For Life and For Honor
by angelofdeath1119
Summary: Everything seemed okay after the York Shin auctions, but when siblings pull Spiders from their hidden webs, nothing is okay.
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: **HxH is Yoshihiro Togashi's!

**Summary: **She was more than just herself; she was the girl that was named after a gem. She was the girl that everyone should normally be envious of. She was rich, she had the means, she had the boys. She had everything anyone would ever want, she could get anything she wanted. So what else would she ask for, to drive her away from her home?

**OWC: 1,126**

* * *

**~Prologue~**

_

* * *

"Have you picked any yet?" _

_The coarse voice of a man called to the two children leaning by the glass viewing box of a jewelry shop. The two kids turned to him, one more excitedly than another. He had dark black hair and brownish black eyes, and he was wearing a blue t-shirt and black pants. He had a fatherly smile on his face, and that made the younger, more hyperactive one to grin even wider._

_"Yes daddy! This one, look, it has a flower on it!" The childish, high-pitched voice of the five-year-old answered. The pigtails of the little girl started to bounce with her movement of sudden jumping. Her dress started to flutter around her like autumn leaves falling from the trees._

_"Tch, flowers," the older one snorted._

_The younger one's grin and laughter disappeared and vanished into thin air. She frowned, instead. Her voice was extraordinarily loud, causing everyone in the store to turn their attention to her. "Daddy, Crystal's being mean!" _

_"Aww, would you just tone down, Neon?" The older one looked at her sister angrily. Her green eyes bore into her sister's, a hidden message in the stare. "I didn't even do anything yet. Stop being such a whiny cry-baby." The irritated voice of the ten-year-old had the tone of an order—strict, intimidating, commanding. _

_But the five-year-old did not sway, and continued to argue. "I am not a CRY BABY!"_

_"Yeah, whatever," the older one finally shrugged, deciding that it wasn't worth her time. She turned back to the glass panel and stared intently once more._

_The customers started to turn around back to what they were doing, while the younger child curled into a ball in the corner of the store, bawling her eyes out as silently as she could._

_Their father, having realized that their argument have finished, finally decided to come in. While putting a gentle, caring hand over the younger one's head, he asked the older one a question. "Crystal, have you decided what you want?"_

_"This one, dad," she said softly while nodding. She leaned forward into the glass, gently adjusting her weight onto it while her eyes were concentrated only on one glittering piece of jewelry, which was intricately carved out from silver. "This one with the spider."_

* * *

"No…no…no…daddy…no…"

"Neon-sama?"

Neon's green eyes flashed open, out of fear, shock, and surprise. Quietly and without a sound, she stared at her white ceiling, pretty dumbly even. After gaining a little bit of thought, she blinked and faced toward her left, meeting her bodyguard's own blue eyes.

As per usual, she felt her face heat up. She never really got used to her favourite bodyguard having such colorful eyes (especially since when she first met him, he was cold and stuffy and had black contacts all the time). She chewed on her lower lip nervously, still feeling her face flush. _What the hell are you doing? You always end up embarrassing yourself, Neon,_ she scolded herself. She looked down at her hands to hide her slowly reddening face, red as a ripe tomato."Eh, Kurapika…"

He turned his eyes from his book to her. "Neon-sama?"

"Why are you in my room?" she asked, tentatively and hesitantly.

Kurapika sighed. He put down his book, and closed it neatly on his lap. "You asked me to watch over you as you sleep."

_I did that?_ She flash-backed. She remembered pulling Kurapika to her room, but that was really it, nothing more.

Again, she had a soft voice. "Kurapika?"

"Neon-sama?"

"Is daddy there?" She asked, finally lifting her eyes to meet his.

Kurapika nodded. "In his study, Neon-sama."

She put down the blanket and, as uncharacteristic as of her to be, she folded it neatly at put it down by her pillow. She straightened out the sheets, too. Kurapika couldn't move or say, 'I'll do it, Neon-sama,' as he would usually say. No, he couldn't. His jaw was dropped in utter surprise.

"N-neon…s-sama…"

Neon went up to him and grinned. "C'mon, Kurapika. I wanna go talk to daddy." She pulled on Kurapika's arm and literally dragged him out of her room—it was actually becoming a habit.

* * *

She knocked three rapid times on the study of her father's giant oak door before she opened it. It creaked as she pushed the huge door aside for a little bit. "Daddy?"

Neon's father, Raito Nostrade, looked away from the gigantic textbook he was scanning. He put down the magnifying glass on the page and spun around to look at his daughter. "Neon? What's the problem?"

Neon looked at Kurapika, signing him to leave them alone first—which he did. She then did to close the door before she walked over to her father. "You… you do know what happened, right, daddy?"

Raito told Neon to come sit with him, and she quietly obeyed with no word of complaints. "I know, Neon… that you've lost your ability."

Neon looked down, her pink hair coming down across her face. "I know, daddy. I'm sorry… and I thought the nice guy was really a nice guy… plus he was really handsome…besides, I've never really been with any other guy since my birth, ugh…" She put her head lower, out of shame and embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I was so irresponsible, daddy."

Raito looked at Neon with suspicious eyes. The Neon he raised, he knew her well enough. She never said sorry. She was brave, and even if being brave meant sticking up to all her mistakes, not accepting anything other people say of her about the wrong of her mistakes and actions. That girl in front of him—no matter how similar she was with Neon—couldn't be Neon, he thought. But even though he was still shaken up in shock, he placed a hand on top of Neon's head. "It's okay, Neon."

Neon stared back up at her dad. She was surprised he just accepted it like it was really nothing much. "So what now, daddy?" she asked. She was curious and worried at the same time. If she couldn't do her predictions, she can't just sulk around. Her dad was already doing so.

Raito sighed. In truth, he had also been thinking of that for quite a while now. _What now. What to do next? What now, Raito? What about your climbing-the-tower crap?_ He looked at Neon with sad, almost had given upeyes.

"I guess we only have one last thing to do, Neon. Maybe there's one more chance."

Neon raised an eyebrow, apparently not understanding what her father had told her. "What chance, daddy?" Neon felt the air around the already moody room tense as Raito looked at her with knitted eyebrows and a very serious visage.

"We look for Crystal."


	2. Chapter 1: Colliding

**OWC: **3,057

**DISCLAIMER: **Yoshihiro Togashi owns HxH

* * *

**Chapter One**

**~Colliding~ **

* * *

"Crystal."

"Kuroro? It's you, after so long, no words at all."

"Should I apologize for my lack of contact?"

"Do you want to keep your dignity intact?"

A chuckle. "Of course. You haven't change, Crystal."

A dry snort. "I've already did. You were never there to notice."

"Maybe that's true."

A tired rolling of eyes. "What do you want, Lucifer?"

"I need a nen-remover."

"Excuse me?"

"Your nen is specialization, correct?" he asked. "It covers such. Nen removal. I need your help."

Narrowing of eyes, tenacity in her voice. "I'm not your Spider. Not yours."

"No, if you look at the facts, actually, you were the first."

She fingered the tattoo at the side of her neck. "Maybe."

"It's reasonable. No worry—no Spider contact will be availed of until you remove the nen restricting me so." A smile. "Remember, 'For the Spider'?"

"And that's just it? You need a nen-remover, and you've gone all the way here just for that?"

A devilish smirk. "Of course not."

* * *

"You are going to track my daughter down," Raito Nostrade said with an authoritative voice. Of course that was forced, because at that moment he felt anything but in control. The three bodyguards, meanwhile, did not make a sound, and just stood there waiting for further clarification. "Crystal Nostrad."

He watched the three trusted servants twitch in surprise at the name, especially the blond one. He continued to explain instead, ignoring their responses, but at that moment the best explanation he could give was a picture that he slid across his glass-topped desk toward the eyes of Neon's three credible bodyguards.

A girl, with sea-green eyes, a pretty face, and rosy cheeks, was in the picture, sitting underneath the spring sun by a Sakura tree. A gentle smile split her face, but it didn't seem to be genuine, almost trained to be fake. Across her neck was an almost perfectly hidden spider tattoo.

_Wait a sec…_ Kurapika squinted his eyes and leaned closer to see. He thought he was merely dreaming—no, having nightmares while awake—and was imagining things, but he had to make sure.

He felt his eyes turn red, but since he didn't have contacts, he kept his head low. The terrifying realization was quick to come to his agile mind—he was about to clash weapons once more, merely 4 months after. And he thought he was back at peace with himself, but no. He didn't expect it to be that quick. How fate plays with him was a really funny thing.

The spider had 12 legs.

Darkly, the voice inside his head snickered and smiled in pleasure of his current situation. _She's with the Ryodan._

"How is old she now, Raito, sir?" Senritsu asked, trying to break the tense silence as she listened sadly and worriedly at Kurapika's erratic heartbeats, his silent agitation. That rhythm in his heart was so terrifyingly familiar, and she didn't want to hear it anymore. But it was there, lingering in her ears like the most painful melody she'll ever hear.

"She would be around 20, or 21 now," Raito told them. With a solemn voice, he added, "She was 14 in that photo." Raito shook his head. "She was talented, I could tell that. Why she ran off is out of my bounds. I believe she would've changed her name. She would be on a different alias now, but I want you to hunt her down. She is _still_ my daughter no matter what."

"Nostrade-san," Kurapika said, almost seethingly, through clenched teeth as he tried to put away once more his suppressed anger. "What about Neon?"

"You will search with her, Kurapika. All of you." Raito said, and Bashou sent a pitiful glance to the teenager, and inwardly, to himself as well, because Neon irritated him to no end. "Any other questions?"

"One last, sir," Kurapika said, still with the reining-his-anger tone. "What is her power?"

"She's somewhere within the bounds of specialization, and her power covers a lot, too vast that I hadn't managed to train her properly, actually," Raito informed them. "But the last I've known of her, she has been practicing nen-removal."

Fear and anger mixed up in Kurapika's eyes.

* * *

"Do I have to reassure you that this won't hurt?" Crystal said in a mocking tone as she prepared Kuroro—mentally and emotionally—for the _next big thing _that was going to happen to him..

"Crystal, I am not five," Kuroro said.

"Of course you aren't. You're fifty-five," she said, as she tying the ribbon she used to knot her hair up tightly. "Now stop moving and lay down straight," she ordered. "Now I want you to shut down all your nen systems, everything. Don't even try to think."

"That would not be possible, if I'm not dead," Kuroro said, but he shut up once he saw Crystal's glare.

_This girl's always straight to the point,_ Kuroro thought to himself. He was, too, but this time, he wanted to play around. Mind over matter just disappeared into thin air. But in the end, he complied quietly to her request-order.

Crystal took three deep breaths. "I want you to remember who did this to you… and push him away from you. Try imagining the events without him being there… just you, and the people around you, but not the person who did this horrible thing with his drastically evil nen that I will not even start to explain how drastic. Just go and deny him of his right to exist in your mind, in your past, in your existence."

Kuroro did as she had said. Chain assasssin, Kurapika, the Scarlet Eyes—all gone, all faded from his mind like a fleeting evanescent memory. He felt himself drifting into unconsciousness as Crystal gripped his hand, where her flow of nen came in, pulling out the nen that constricted him. He always wanted to watch Crystal take away the nen and be a nen-remover—it was always entertaining for teachers to watch their students do what they had been taught—but since he's the one being 'cleaned', he was denied of the chance.

"Now just focus and I'm warning you this will hurt a bit."

When Kuroro felt the vortex suffocating him, he just narrowed his eyes and tried to deny the pain a place in his heart.

Just like what he did to Kurapika Kuruta.

* * *

There.

Kurapika felt it, from within the recesses of his soul, the place where his nen was stored, where he knew his life was there. Where his heart was beating, he felt that wherever he had left his nen, just wasn't there. And he felt it, ever so painfully so.

_It's gone._

At first, he could not figure out what was gone, what was missing, but as soon as he started thinking about what kind of feeling disappeared, horror struck in his eyes and he was left speechless in a moment, dumbstruck, staring wide-eyed at the walls of the Nostrade mansion. His eyes turned scarlet for a very short fraction of a second, but he got them turned back to normal before anybody else noticed.

"Kurapika?"

He blinked, caught off guard again. He spun on his heel and faced Senritsu. To tell the truth in his heart, he really didn't want to involve the others into _this_ mission—which he had set upon himself—anymore, not again, knowing how much it had hurt them the last time he attempted it.

So he tried to deadpan. "Senritsu. Is something the matter?"

Senritsu didn't smile as he hoped she would. "That's the question I was going to ask you, Kurapika. Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm okay; there's nothing to bother about."

"I can hear your heartbeat, Kurapika," Senritsu reminded him, and made waving movements in the air resembling a musical conductor. She closed her eyes as if engrossed to that sound. "You can't lie to me; you're worried."

He blinked, thoughts racing into his mind. _What excuse now, Kurapika?_ He blinked once more and answered in a forced-deadpan, "Yes, I'm worried for Killua and Gon. They've been out of the game for a few months now, but I haven't gotten so much as a call or so, which is not typical of Gon…"

Senritsu narrowed her eyes, and Kurapika knew she wasn't giving up on this. "You're still lying."

He sighed. He couldn't win over this argument, he knew the chance didn't exist. Senritsu knew him well enough, in and out. There wasn't any getting away with her interrogating him about his emotions... and there was nothing worse.

With a tired sigh to force in the agitation, he said, "The nen restrictions are gone."

"You mean around the Spider head?" Senritsu said after a long pause, cautious of her words. She didn't want to say the words 'Kuroro' or 'Lucifer,' knowing it would provoke Kurapika.

"It's gone… or at least loosened," Kurapika said. "And I think I know which direction we're going to head in search for Crystal."

Surprised at the sudden subject change, Senritsu didn't manage to think over it. "Quick thinking. Where, then?"

"East…" Kurapika said, not bothering to clarify why or how he knew. He knew, though, and he was sure, that she had a link to the Spiders—how close or how so, he didn't know. He just knew. "I know. He's there. And I bet, she's there."

* * *

Kuroro felt his mind whirl. He was spinning, in his mind. In a world of black and white, memories came and passed by him like pictures caught from life. Ryuusei-gai, YorkShin. Memories he thought he'd buried long ago came up from their graves.

Rukuso Valley.

That memory stayed the longest, and he didn't know why he'd bother stare at it. The burning houses, the dead people. A sack of eyes, floating in containers, ready to be sold to the all-waiting mafia.

How the emotions started penetrating him, emanating from the memory, he didn't know. It was just there, attacking him like swords pushed up and down his skin, in his rational mind.

The Chain-Assassin, Uvogin, Pakunoda. Shalnark, Phinks, Nobunaga. Machi, Shizuku, Feitan. Franklin, Bonorenofu, Coltopi. Hisoka. Flickering memories, like a lighted candle outside on a breezy night. Barely there, almost like in flash forward, being skipped. Quickly. Ignored.

Kuroro was skimming through his memories, taking his time, not minding the pain that felt like was ripping his mind, ripping his heart. He felt it, but he still took his time.

Then suddenly, he saw the light.

* * *

"Have you located Crystal-nee-san?"

"Not yet, Neon-sama," Kurapika said as he scanned through the electronic pages of the Hunter site. "But I'm about to."

"Really? Lemme see, lemme see!" Neon said, jumping out her bed to go over Kurapika.

Well, bad momentum. She jumped over to Kurapika's chair, toppling him over, toppling the table over, and the computer was pulled off the switch as the monitor came crashing toward the floor, sending thousands of shards of glass onto the floor, wall, ceiling, up the air.

Kurapika tried to defend Neon, and immediately did what any bodyguard would do on a time like that—embrace. He embraced Neon, ignoring all the pain the glass was making on him. They rolled on the floor, and he placed Neon on the bed. She widened her eyes with the amount of blood coming out of the wounds.

He tried to pluck the shards out of his skin, and blood immediately ran out, staining his tribal garments. Neon crawled over to her bedside, took out the bandages, and sheepishly gave it to Kurapika.

"Sorry… I guess it's my fault again…" Neon said, head hanging low. "I'm such a klutz. I should avoid glass next time." Neon looked up at Kurapika, who was still looking wide-eyed at Neon, caught off guard once more, because Neon never said sorry. Neon smiled. "C'mon, I'll do that for you, if you don't mind." She pulled up Kurapika by his arm and peeled off his clothes even after hearing his protestant whines. She was still the master, and she enforced that. And with that done over, she started to wind the bandage around the wounds.

Neon tried her best not to look at his bare body. But no, she couldn't. She was human, after all—humans are easily tempted. She felt her face flush real hard and Kurapika was also flushing redder than anything that had ever existed.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she ripped the bandage as she finished. Kurapika stood up and wore his torn clothes, promising himself he'll change later. He turned around to Neon, who was looking at her hands trying to remove the redness on her face. "Uh… t-till tomorrow N-neon-s-sama…" he stuttered and went out the door. He would never do that to himself anymore, he promised. _As if._

Rolling in her bed, Neon fell asleep smiling.

* * *

"Good morning, sleepy head. You took longer than any other person I've ever done Removal on. What took you so long?"

_What took me so long?_ He stared at the blank ceiling, the fan that turned slowly above him in the room. He sighed. "The memories made me linger on it for quite a while."

She rolled her eyes. "You? Lingering on memories? Oh please. You're the type who goes over everything he does, right or wrong. Nothing really matters."

"That doesn't really apply on everything," Kuroro sighed, finally sitting up.

Crystal was playing with a lollipop on her mouth. Raspberry. Playing irresistible, as always. "Say, how's Uvo-kun? The playful beast of a man doesn't come around as much anymore, these past few months since the auctions. I was there, but I got bored. Ended up in the flea market."

"Uvogin…" Kuroro muttered. "…he was killed."

"Killed?" Crystal's voice rose a pitch higher as she removed the lollipop from her mouth, half-eaten. She knew Uvogin, he was a big and burly man who wouldn't anybody bully her or himself. He was strong and he fought for what he wanted, no matter the cost.

_He couldn't have been beaten by some little scum in the York Shin auction, now could he?_

"Who?" Crystal asked, her voice a little panicky. She tried to keep a calm visage, but to no avail.

Kuroro raised an eyebrow at her. "Knowing you… And I thought you'd be prying with my memories."

"He's the one?" Crystal asked. "The one who put the nen chain on you?"

Kuroro nodded. "Yes. The Kuruta, a survivor we apparently missed to execute."

Usually Crystal would flinch or so with Kuroro's use of the word execute, but she just remained like that, sitting down, staring at the wall with a glare on her eyes. Kuroro couldn't read through it. He, instead, just called her attention. "Crystal."

Crystal was muttering to herself, knowing she'd seen that boy somewhere. He was young and only in his teen years, she knew, and for him to be able to beat someone as strong as Uvogin, he had to have some special trick in his nen, in which he draws his power.

_That boy was a stick man! He was also small! How can he beat Uvo? There must be something wrong about this… _

"Crystal," Kuroro called her attention once more, now with a little worry in his tone. Even if he could be a considered as cold, heartless, ruthless and merciless killer and thief, he was still human. Maybe his emotions were a little slow to show on his actions, but he still cared for his Spiders. They were like a little family.

And being like a family, he knew them well enough. She never freaked out to the point of murmuring to herself as he had seen; always, when they were together, she was almost as calm as him.

"I saw him, we talked… Last Christmas, at York Shin… he was alone, I—I didn't know he was… I didn't—I couldn't…" She was already muttering, still shocked to her bones. "...He wouldn't have recognized me because I had a wig on but he... he's..."

Kuroro just looked on at her, with blank eyes. It wasn't usual that she had breakdown moments, and he only counted once before in their time together. "He works for your father. He's your sister's bodyguard; the head of their league, even."

Crystal buried her face in her hands. She admired that kid, he was actually pretty fun to talk to. He wasn't the storyteller type, but he read books and had a charming smile. She felt like Neon, falling over for people again just because of their looks, their glances, their first show-attitude. She knew she _had to be _more rational than Neon, but what she had done was not worth it.

"Crystal, I need to go," Kuroro said, but she did not even look up at him. "I'll send down someone to come fetch you."

"Lucifer..." she murmured, so softly maybe he wasn't even supposed to hear, but he did. He heard tiny sobs escaping from her throat, but they were almost inaudible, like she was forcing them back in again. Words rattled out of her mouth seethingly as she tried to control the anger which she could not seem to bottle up. "No…Not before I find him again, and this time, it won't be that pleasant for him…"

Kuroro went over to Crystal crouched low in front of her, looking at her angry green eyes. He put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Crystal, recklessness is one of the factors that led to this. You know what I taught you."

She knew what Kuroro was talking about. When they were training he taught her, _Don't do anything before thinking a dozen steps ahead. Remember that everything we do is dangerous and if we don't think it through-and-through, it might cause our deaths._

Even so, Crystal's tears continued to spill over. A tiny whine escaped her lips as she whispered, "But Kuroro…"

Kuroro removed his hand from her shoulder, not even offering the teeniest amount of comfort. Crystal looked into his dark eyes, trying to find the Kuroro she knew before, the Kuroro she could hug for comfort. But he wasn't there.

His unnervingly cold voice spoke to her coolly, and she calmed down with it.

"We will find him, and we will beat him, Crystal.

That's for sure."


	3. Chapter 2: Bound

**OWC: **3,076 words

**DISCLAIMER: **HxH belongs to Yoshihiro Togashi.

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**~Bound~**

* * *

"So your direction is eastward?" Raito asked, confirming to the team. They nodded. His bony finger traced the map, eyeing the possible locations. "This is sea, sea, sea, land, forest, desert—the only living place suitable for her would be Vylkar, but it's a very poor town, just a little higher than Meteor City."

_Kuroro Lucifer can get as resourceful as you can ever get, Nostrad, and because Crystal is associated with him… _Kurapika argued in his mind, but just sighed in the end, thinking, _But you don't know that, now do you, Nostrad?_

So instead he replied in a clean, monotone voice, "We believe your daughter has a connection to the Spiders."

Nostrad flinched. To the mafia, it would be an insult to be said that—having a connection with the Spiders. Especially since they filch almost everything in almost every auction ever to have been taken place. In a shaky voice, Nostrad asked, "And how do you prove that?"

Kurapika put flat on the table the picture Raito had provided for them. He pointed to the left side of the picture, to a tiny black splotch at the side of her neck, almost unrecognizable. To Kurapika, though, it was very clear; and as Raito squinted his eyes and forced himself to see, the clearer the picture became to him as well.

"No kidding," he muttered. He stared hard and long at the spider, hoping somehow it was only an illusion that would fade.

It didn't.

"Kuroro Lucifer would be the closest to home in terms of why. He, after all, manages all Spider movements. I have restricted him from any such connection, but since he is acquaintances with your daughter Crystal, there's a chance…"

_A chance that he gets away from my control again._

_Or maybe I should have just said that in past tense._

xXx

Three rapid knocking on the door, and a soft call, "Crystal!"

She hadn't bothered to look up from the scrapbook she was browsing through. "Come in, the door's unlocked." As she said that, she momentarily released the nen-lock on her door, enabling the person outside to come in. She heard the door creak and close, and she wrapped her nen again. It was a habit that came around without her focusing much on it.

"So it was nen. I should have known. How is life, Crystal?"

She finally looked up from the scrapbook, and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! So it's you, Shalnark-kun!" She put down the dusty thing and dashed to give a friendly hug to her sandy brown-haired friend. "Good thing _you're _safe! And I thought you'd be lost too. I can't imagine a world without you!"

Shalnark laughed. "I can." He went toward the scrapbook, curious. "What is this?"

Crystal edged a little upon his sudden attention to her little scrapbook of 'memories,' but she made no move as he looked at it. He picked it up, and he saw the cover. Written in a red permanent marker was 'Kumo,' (in Japanese, it meant Spider) but that was covered up with bigger red markings that was most likely written in blood. Those markings said 'Ryodan.' Slapped below it was the remains of a very dead poisonous tarantula. He flipped the page; written in calligraphic but still childish handwriting was 'Orb Weaver.' Below, in a few sentences was some brief, important information, concerning the spider. There was also a spider on the page—most likely an orb weaver. The page was ripped off. He looked, flipping the torn pages, and spotted only one page with a spider that was pretty much intact. It was the one marked, 'Black widow.' Words jumped from the page to Shalnark's eyes—deadly, poisonous, dangerous. What's more, it resembled most the Spider on their Danchou's right arm. The next page was even more suspicious—it said PHANTOM BRIGADE, still written in red, maybe in blood. The next page was Danchou's quote, his first rule to the six original Spiders (that supposedly did not include Crystal)

_As a spider  
I am the head and you guys are the limbs.  
The limbs regard the orders from the head as top priority.  
Now, this is carried out by skill, not life and death.  
Which means, if I die, any of you can take my place.  
It depends on the situation  
sometimes the head is less important than the limbs.  
Understand this clearly  
My orders are top priority  
But that doesn't mean my life is top priority.  
I am also a member of the Spider.  
The one who lives is not the individual  
But the Spider.  
Don't forget that._

And that was it. There were at least 25 leaves left in the scrapbook.

Shalnark closed it, and with a sigh faced Crystal. "Can you answer me one question, Crystal?"

Crystal was unused to Shal's serious tone, so she flinched. Shalnark, to her, was like a very patient and nice brother. "Uh, sure?"

"How did you and Danchou meet?"

xXx

_Sitting outside by the porch of their mansion house was a little girl, aged eight, humming a tone she had made up herself. She was lonely, no one bothered to talk to her. Their entire house was busy with her 'special' younger sister. She found no place to run to other than outside._

_From the other side of the gate, a cotton candy pushcart passed by. She jumped up and walked to her gate, which was a strong border from the outside world. She watched sadly through the bars as the man giving out the cotton candy made the kids laugh. She drooled; she wanted to be free, and she wanted cotton candy. She wanted to eat, and she wanted someone to have fun with. To laugh with. _

_A man—no, merely a boy then, probably 15—came by her gate and caught her staring. He held the other cotton candy from his right hand. "Hey, you want one?"_

_She nodded eagerly. "Yes, Mister." She eyed the boy with critical eyes—black hair, blacker eyes, a bandage running around his forehead. One word crossed her mind—unique, if not weird.  
_

"_Uh, do you have a shadowy place somewhere?"_

"_There's the back gazebo," she offered, and then stared at the 15-foot-tall barricade that separated them. "But, uhh…"_

_The boy grinned. "No worries." He jumped, and in half a second was beside her on her side of the gate. He handed the cotton candy. "Here, kid."_

"_My name is Crystal... Crystal Nostrad."_

"_I'm Kuroro Lucifer."_

xXx

"Do you have something that Crystal owns? We may be able to track her easier with my chain…" Kurapika suggested.

"In the chest upstairs by the attic," Raito informed him. "All hers—or, what she left, anyway."

Kurapika told the two others—Senritsu and Bashou—to watch over Neon first while he went up on his own to the dusty attic rarely visited by Nostrad or any other Nostrad employee. Only he went there, sometimes, to get some quiet time reading a book.

It was truly a mess—Neon's old toys, old clothes, unwanted and unneeded keepsakes all piled high to the roof. One corner caught his eyes, thought—it was clear of any mess, and there was only one thing in it—a sealed oak chest.

He blew away the dust and opened it with the key Raito gave him. He raised an eyebrow, blinking his eyes to make sure if he didn't just miss something. He peeped inside once more to make sure. Now, he was completely confused.

It had one piece of paper… only one piece of paper. Marked with calligraphic handwriting, simple yet elegant, he read the letter—no, just a note really, as it was really short.

_Dad._

_Don't go finding me. I'm sorry it had to go this way, but it has to. Don't track me down, don't even think of it. I've found a new family and they've taken me as their own._

_Crystal._

xXx

"Where to now, Shal?" Crystal asked, putting away the old scrapbook. "You didn't come here just to say hi, right?"

_Besides, no one except Kuroro knows I live here. I'm pretty much isolated. He might as well have given a call to his little pet Spiders… keh, he might've missed them too terribly much._

"Danchou wants you in the HQ."

_Bingo._

Of all the Spiders, only Shalnark and Uvogin know about Crystal. Kuroro had made sure no one knew about her other than their so called 'outside force.' She used to help them several times, but Kuroro cut off the contact. The latest 'help,' the nen-removal, was after five years of dormant activity.

"To the HQ, hmm?"

"_You _removed the nen, Crystal. I think it's time you're no longer just an _outside force._"

Crystal snickered. "Dang, you sound like him already. What's wrong with you?"

"I do?" Shal scratched an imaginary itch. "Heh, it must've been the sudden impact of him being there after so long."

Crystal smiled. _The Spiders have a bond tighter than family, _he had told her once. _I wish you were there to see. _"You missed him."

"He's our Danchou, after all," Shal grinned. "He is a part of the Spider."

"But, 'the one who must live is not the individual, but the Spider,' correct?" Crystal said, smiling a little. Ending a question with 'correct' for clarification was a Danchou habit, and it sounded more like a pun. The first order, also, was something she had put to her mind and soul—the dedicated Spider she is.

Shal nodded. "Fei took place, second-in-command. But he did not take over as Danchou. No one can."

"He's Danchou, after all," Crystal muttered under her breath, soft enough that Shalnark didn't hear. She picked up the bag she packed earlier, just a small sling bag, ready to go. "Which HQ, anyway?"

"The one by the outskirts of York Shin," Shal said. "Hung around ever since the September Auction. Didn't bother to move."

_Waiting for Danchou, _Crystal thought. "Looting, as always?"

"Of course," Shal grinned. "What else?"

Tightening the bag on her shoulder, she nodded. "The way of the Spider." She stepped toward Shal. "How do we go?"

"Danchou told us to take our time, and pick any mode of transportation," Shal explained. "He said you were a guest-of-honor."

_As expected from Kuroro, with all his grandiose feel, _Crystal grinned. "That sounds nice. Guest-of-honor, VIP—for the most notorious gang of criminals known in history's HQ." She took Shal by the arm, slightly laughing. "C'mon. Let's take the airship, Shal."

xXx

"We leave in three days. I'll track them down to see their final location before we leave on the third day."

"Neon-sama will come with us," Senritsu said. "We should be very cautious."

Kurapika nodded. "We will choose the safest track," he said. "But it's not exactly the easiest. At least it won't get us killed."

"As long as she's going home whole, I'll allow you," Raito said.

The four—Bashou, Senritsu, Neon and Kurapika—prepared themselves for the who-knows-how-long journey. Senritsu helped the helpless Neon pick the clothes she'll bring (pants, t-shirts) while Bashou and Kurapika arranged the other materials needed like food and supplies. Kurapika kept track of Crystal's location using his dowsing chain, and determined that she might as well be flying with the area she was covering everyday.

The day they were supposed to leave, though, Kurapika was unable to locate her.

"Bashou, what was the last flight on airspace?" he asked.

Bashou didn't look up from the TV. "Today it's headed for Padokia."

Shaking his head, Kurapika said, "No, I mean yesterday."

"Mm… York Shin, I think," Bashou said.

Kurapika had a wry smile on his face at the ire of the situation.

_York Shin. It's always there where memories are made._

xXx

So none of them know me, but I know them?"Crystal asked, honest surprise on her face. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, only Uvo-kun and I and Danchou know about you," Shal said. "Danchou made it a point you were some kind of secret… he didn't want you mixed up in the problems of the Spider. Problems... especially last September… lucky break that time, but the Spider still lost its legs."

"Uvo-kun…" her voice was solemn and lonely. She rested her head on her hands while wearing a torn, sad look on her face.

Shalnark leaned over and pulled on her cheek. "Cheer up. I can be sure at least two members will be happy at your arrival."

"Yeah, two. Danchou, isn't it? And you," Crystal snorted. "I don't know why, I don't understand Danchou at all. How can I be a Spider, yet no one knows me? Or about me? Or my nen? Or _anything_?" Her voice started to sound complaining, but more sad than anything.

Her hand lingered to where her tattoo was. Shalnark spotted it, for the first time ever. "You have a tattoo?"

"Long ago since," she said, brushing off the hair so Shalnark could get a clearer view. It did look like their Danchou's, and both of them didn't have a number, too. Shalnark thought, _Was she really the first one? _His stomach twisted as he finally understood why she felt so sad about not being known inside the little group she and their Danchou actually started.

Crystal smiled, feeling nostalgic. She knew that question that lingered in Shal's eyes. "It was really just a joke then, and all was almost like a blur…"

xXx

"_Does your father know I'm training you?"_

"_Not the least. He was surprised, though, when I knew about Nen, but I just told him I've read about it," Crystal said. "It's the excuse that always works."_

_Outside, far from the Nostrad mansion, in a park somewhere in the metropolitan city, under a shady tree, a 9-year-old Crystal, and a 16-year-old Kuroro, 'Training' though looking like merely playing._

"_Today, it's your hatsu," Kuroro said, digging in his bag for something._

_Crystal, meanwhile, was busy daydreaming. "Kuro-kun, you said you came from Ryuusei-gai… isn't that… you know?"_

"_I grew up there with a bunch of kids, all in the same dumpster," he said. "C'mere, do the water test."_

"_What are their names?" Crystal asked before proceeding to do the water test. Showing off her nen, the water turned into crystals then vanished into thin air. "Same as the result when Father told me to do so. He said it might be Materialization or Specialization."_

_Kuroro nodded. "We'll try. I don't know, but I think you're a jyonen user," he said, putting back the glass in his bag. "We'll practice that rom now on."_

"_But the kids, what are their names?" Crystal insisted._

"_Machi, Franklin, Pakunoda, Feitan, Phinx, Shalnark__," Kuroro said in a bored tone. "What are you thinking, anyway?"_

"_One…two… three… there's six of them, and eight if you count us! You can name the gang, the SPIDERS!" Crystal said, giddy. "Neon is afraid of spiders. Daddy is, too. But I'm not. I love them!" Kuroro raised an eyebrow. "Spiders?"_

"_Ain't that fun? A gang of friends," Crystal said. "I'd be the first Spider! Then you'll be the leader! What's it again…DANCHOU! There we go!" She giggled. "And we'll have tattoos!"_

_Kuroro had an amused look on his face."Tattoos?"_

"_And then you'll have a codename so no one knows… uhh, Genei Ryodan would do."_

"_What does that mean?"_

"_Genei, a mixture of gensetsu, serious, and yurei, ghost. Ryodan, ryo, hunting, dan, group. The SERIOUS GHOST HUNTING GROUP… Phantom Brigade!"_

"_It sound like a group of bandits."_

"_That's a nice thing to do, I bet it's fun."_

_Kuroro laughed, thinking that she's certainly something. "Steal for what?"_

"_You can help fund Meteor City," Crystal said. "It must be sad, having childhoods there. But I don't know." She smiled. "But first, you'll have tattoos like this!" She drew on the soil a 12-legged spider._

"_But that's 12, Crystal," Kuroro said, and she just grinned._

"_The more the merrier. C'mon, I know a guy who makes cool tattoos."_

_Kuroro laughed, and a genuine one at that. Emotions could rarely be controlled when she's around. Sometimes she's so bubbly and happy, sometimes too quiet and controlled, like she can't make up her mind. But that's her special personality—it's what makes Crystal, Crystal._

Phantom Brigade,_ he thought. _It's a nice idea.


	4. Chapter 3: Finding

**A/N: **Had that revived urge to write about complicated plot twists, Spiders, and a girl named after a gem. Crystal, Crystal, Crystal. I'm starting to remember how it is to like her. And I'm enjoying writing her again. =] It's 12:07 am. =]]

**OWC: **2,491

**DISCLAIMER: **Yoshihiro Togashi owns HxH.

* * *

"Is something bothering you, Kurapika?"

Kurapika turned around to face his comrade Senritsu. She was looking up at him with questioning and caring eyes, obviously seeing that in him, something was definitely troubling him. Kurapika could see that she just wanted a little, say, confirmation of her doubts, but he wasn't just ready to give himself out that easily. "No, nothing."

Senritsu remained mute, the very determined asking expression still on her little childlike face. "There's something wrong."

Kurapika sighed. He knew there was no 'back door' when it comes to Senritsu giving you the motherlike stares. He was facing her, and her face was saying, 'Seriously.' He was lying, trying to get the easy way out. He could see in her eyes that she could see in his face and hear in his heart that he was lying.

Moreover, he already knew Senritsu already knew the problem about him and finding Crystal. The fact that he knew that the Spiders may be connected to Crystal already agitated him, and Senritsu knew that. So why did she bother to ask?

"I think I know where to find Crystal," he finally said after a long pause. Senritsu remained silent, wishing to hear him continue. He, though, continued in his mind, and not out on words. _York Shin. It's a pretty ironic place for the 'disbanded' Spiders to meet again._

His heart raced, the bloodlust returning to his eyes. He had his contacts on so no one noticed, and he didn't want his heritage to be splashed like cold water on his face again. Taunting him, being used as his bloody weakness when it should be his strength, the thing that actually backs him up. After a long time, the chains in his hand started to rattle its mournful melody once more.

Senritsu could see—no, more clearly, _hear_—how he felt. "You don't have to, Kurapika," she said calmly. She could hear his anger, the bloodlust, all those troubled emotions that whirled inside his still fragile heart. She knew that one wrong move and it would be shattered into the tiniest pieces. Can't be fixed, forever. She tried to comfort him. He didn't need to fight anymore—she knew that. The only demons that existed were the demons in his heart. With a still calm tone, she said, "We only need Crystal."

Kurapika tried to control it, but his glare passed on to Senritsu. "_You _only need Crystal. _I _need the _Spiders._"

xXx

"Wow! These are all made up of Nen alone," Crystal said, touching one of the copies of the buildings that covered the surroundings. They were obviously the copies that Coltopi easily made. She was looking at them with a subtle yet efficient Gyo, and they were all glowing auras in her eyes. She was amazed at the power used to create the multiple copies. "My materialization skills aren't as good as this." She was wide-eyed, excited already to know that the people she had in the group she and Kuroro made years ago were this talented. She now fully trusted Kuroro—she now knew that he knew how to pick members seriously.

Shalnark was watching her with peculiar eyes, a slight smile, and a knowing look. Interest.

The surroundings were quiet, other than the rare caws of birds and her 'Oooh's and 'Aaaah's. "Shal-kun, I wonder how amazing the person who made these are. My skills are bare to compare! This is excellent!" If Shal didn't know any better, he would've said Crystal sounded very jealous. But she didn't—that was just how she talked. _Her personality, _as Kuroro once told him. "Amazing skills!" Crystal continued to say, awe-struck.

"No matter, your skills are good enough for the Ryodan," a different voice other than Shalnark answered. Crystal spun on her heel and smiled.

"Kuro-kun!"

"She's a girl," Coltopi's little voice said in the silence of the room. Six out of the seven other people didn't give a damn with what he said, but Nobunaga was the only one who responded a little with a slight moving of his head to the direction of Coltopi's voice.

"What?" Nobunaga's dry, uninterested, tired voice.

"The outside force is a girl," Coltopi repeated.

Nobunaga sat up from his slouching position. He was then utterly surprised. He was expecting the 'outside force', slash the new recruit, would be a bulky man, strong and mighty, just like Uvogin had once been. But no. What Coltopi told him erased everything he thought. With a disbelieving look, he shrieked, "WHAT?"

"Danchou and Shalnark are with her," Coltopi continued, ignoring his exaggerated reaction.

"WHAT?"

"They're coming here at this very minute," he continued. "They're in the premises of the copies I made. …I feel them. You should be able to feel them with your En as well, Nobunaga," Coltopi commented.

"WH—"

"Nobunaga," Machi's icy voice stopped him from shrieking again. He looked at her, and she was just playing with her nen strings, weaving them in fanciful patterns in front of her like real strings. "If Danchou was to take her for a recruit, she must be a helpful force. She has always been, since she is the 'outside force' which has help us locate materials and needed items, correct? Do not doubt in Danchou's decision. He is a very rational person," she said calmly, yet in that very icy tone, cold as steel, that made Nobunaga shudder as the fear went up his spine.

"But Machi—" He didn't even manage to complete his sentence because Machi sent him a glare as cold as the antarctic ice. And that was when he realized that this was the end of their argument.

He could only grunt.

xXx

"Welcome to the outskirts, Crystal," Kuroro said with a voice that sounded unusual to her.

Crystal grinned. "It's kinda weird to be welcomed to the outskirts, Kuroro. It's not at all normal."

"Did I say it was normal?" Kuroro said, and Crystal smiled and shook no.

"No. Because being a Spider, we aren't normal."

Shalnark watched them talk, Crystal walking backward as Kuroro gave her a little orientation on the Spiders and what was happening, recently. Even the painful events. She wouldn't be a real tough Spider without those events, and Shal knew that.

The two continued talking like so until Crystal tripped on some sharp thing she hadn't paid attention to—well, she was walking backwards, facing Kuroro, after all. Kuroro caught her with one steady arm, but not wanting to face her weaknesses—and to show them—she spun around so she sat on the cement. A trickle of blood fell from her right leg. It was wounded by the protruding piece of metal in the ground—_Why the hell…? _She thought, but she didn't bother to end it by thinking, _This is the outskirts, after all. Ryodan territory. _

She cupped the wound with her hands. "Shit…" Blood dripped down from her pale leg to her ankle, down to the dull cemented gray ground. She ignored the searing pain as she fought to stand up. She, however, limped, and she thought that maybe the rock or whatever sharp thing that hit her went deep into her. And she felt the hurt that came with the bleeding.

"Are you okay?" Shalnark asked, a little awkward. He knew she hated being weak.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Crystal answered back as she struggled to stand up. Later though, she just fell on the ground. "Cursed thing… dammit…"

_Weak._  
_Pathetic.  
Useless._

She heard her mind taunt her, but she tried her best to ignore it despite the fact that it was the only thing that was running in her head. Her only thoughts. She hated drowning in her own painful misery. And she was sure of that.

Disturbed from her thoughts, she heard a ripping sound. She looked up to see Kuroro ripping a tiny part of his white undershirt. She was about to open her mouth to protest when he said "don't move" in a Danchou-tone. Authoritative and strong, she knew better than to resist after hearing his voice suddenly change to _that_. She shut her mouth after that—her instincts told her that messing with him _now _wouldn't end well.

She was about to stand up on wobbly legs after he had tied the make-shift bandage around her leg. But Kuroro acted faster—he already had her in his arms, carrying her bridal style. She frowned—again, weaknesses coming after all. She suddenly felt like shrinking. "I'll be able to walk."

"You walk too slowly," Kuroro said. Obviously he was forcing his emotions down again, since at the end of his sentence his lip twitched. There was an unsaid Kuroro sarcasm/humor—and Crystal could see that. But she didn't bother to ask. _From here on out, _she thought, _he will be Danchou, and no longer Kuroro._

She murmured a soft, "Hai, Danchou," managing in her very cold tone (that would be second to Machi's, as Kuroro had told her before) yet his only acknowledgment to the girl was a tiny nod.

He, instead, turned to Shal. "Shal," he said, and Shal nodded. _Apparently the Spiders talk in a form of communicative language of nods and blinks, _Crystal thought, storing it away in her mind as a mental note. _I'd have to learn that soon enough._

Her thoughts were interrupted with the sudden motion. Because_ s_oon enough they were running—and Crystal being carried—away at a speed of 100mph. It was fast enough that they were at the storage room they used as some kind of HQ lobby in a few seconds. Kuroro put her down on the ground and she dusted herself off.

She, however, was a little bit distracted. Crystal was surprised that all of (remaining) Spiders were present. For some reason, she hadn't expected it—Kuroro managing to call them all out in record time.

She had thought they had _literally _disbanded. _But then again, this is the Spiders we're talking about… _she thought with a grim smile. _They really do have a bond tighter than family._

"I believe I have introduced them to you earlier," Kuroro said, and Crystal nodded.

"Phinks, Nobunaga, Machi, Coltopi, Feitan, Shizuku, and Shalnark," She said, naming them one-by-one as she pointed at them. _Eight, like the original, _she thought, _but that isn't counting me and Kuroro this time. The Spider has grown, _she thought with another smile. _Times really have changed. To think it's been almost 10 years._

Nobunaga, however, did not feel at ease with her out-of-the-blue smiles. For all he knew, she might've been thinking of something devilish, and cheeky.  
"This is Crystal Nostrade. You are all more familiar with her sister, Neon Nostrade," Kuroro said with a monotone voice. Crystal nodded to the Spiders.

"Y'mean the fortune teller, Danchou?" Phinks asked, and turned to Crystal. "You're her sister?" he asked again, and she nodded. "You look nothing alike, save for your green eyes," he said.

She smiled again, and Nobunaga narrowed his eyes. He didn't like her—that was his first impression. "I always get that," she said. "You are Phinks-kun, correct?"

Phinks nodded. "Please, Phinks is enough. Welcome to the Spiders, Crystal!" He said with a grin. "Oh, by the way, how old are you?"

"Twenty," she said with a nonchalant voice.

"Isn't she a bit young for a recruit, Danchou?" Machi asked.

Kuroro nodded. "She may be young, but she's old enough," he said, and Machi nodded. That was, apparently, enough for her. So, Kuroro continued explaining. "She will take over Paku's place as second-in-command."

Phinks and Nobunaga gawked. They've been in the Spiders for years and years, and yet they've never _ever _gotten the second-in-command position. _Never. _Never under Danchou's order. They've always believed that the very loyal Pakunoda was the only one deserving for that place. So why…

Kuroro bit his cheeks to prevent smiling. He wanted to smirk, to grin. To anything. To show his pride. "She is, after all, the first spider."  
Crystal brushed her hair away from her left neck, and of course, never forgot to just grin as the other seven people in the room shared surprised glances.

xXx

"Do you want us to find your father or not?"

"Of course I want to! But you didn't have to-"  
"We have to explore all means to get to that impossible father of yours! Now look through this screen and—wait."

Killua stopped. He blinked, scrolling up the page to read the name again. No. For him, it didn't seem to be possible. He looked at the words again, eyes burning into the monitor, and then looked at the picture next to it with criticizing eyes. He clicked at the profile as Gon looked at him with innocent and confused eyes.

"Killua?"

"Shh. Wait," he ordered. He read the profile quickly before finally deciding to do what was needed to be done.

xXx

_RRRRIIIINNNGGG, RRRIIINNNGGG, _Kurapika's cellphone rang. He blinked, the glare fading away from his blue eyes. Senritsu's fearing look disappeared as well.

He murmured a soft, "Excuse me," before he finally moved to a different place. He clicked the 'Answer' button and said, "Killua?"

_[Are you busy?]_

"Not at the moment, why?" Kurapika asked.

_[Is there anyone around you?]_

Kurapika was now suspicious, so he answered warily. "I'm in a deserted corridor… why do you even bother to ask?"

_[Just checking. You're in the Nostrade mansion?]_

"Where else would I be? I'm a full time bodyguard. What's with the asking?"

_[Like I said, just checking.]_

"…am I just wasting my time here, 'cause I need to put down the ph—"

_[No! Look, I called you for an important reason, not because I wanted to chit-chat!]_

"I was afraid you'd forget to say that."

_[Tch. Why would I call you, to hear your sweet voice?]_

"Maybe," Kurapika said with a grin.

_[Aaaaaaah, whatever. That's not even half funny. Can I get to the point now?]_

"Please do."

_[Gon and I were looking for travel information about his father when I stumbled upon this very interesting profile…]_

"Will it even interest me?"

_[It will, and that's why I called you. This is about someone named Crystal Nostrade.]_

"Pardon?"

_[You're getting deaf, blondie. **Crystal Nostrad.** That clear enough for you?] _

"Yeah…" Kurapika muttered. _Very clear._ "She's connected to my employer."

_[So I realized. She, apparently, booked a plane to York Shin under a Hunter ID of a man named… Shalnark. He's super secret and I can't tell much about him but…]_

"But?"

_[… I recognize him. He was with the Spiders. At York Shin.]_

Kurapika nodded. He was expecting that. "Thank you, Killua. I'll go now. I'll be able to track them easier this time."

_[WHAT? NO WAY! We're helping you, Kurapika, no matter wha—]_

"You and Gon take care. Good luck on finding Ging," Kurapika finally said, and then flipped his phone shut, completely ending the call.

_The Spiders, huh?_


	5. Chapter 4: A Gem's Secrets

**A/N:** Procrastination-induced chapter. Oh, and Thanks for all the birthday gifts, friends.

No, I don't know how to write Neon. Or Leopika. Or Kuraneon. Or KillGon... but I didn't mean to write that.

Yeah. Killua and Gon just had to be in the chapter even though it didn't relate to anything. Yes, yes, yes.

On an endnote, I have to say I edited some minor parts in the previous chapters. Keh, read it if you want to see. I don't think it'll actually matter.

**OWC:** 3,431  
**Disclaimer**: Yoshihiro Togashi owns HxH.

- The song mentioned below is **Shunkan Sentimental** by _**SCANDAL**_. For those who watched Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Shunkan Sentimental would be very familiar to you. If you get what I mean.

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**~A gem's secrets~**

* * *

"Your Father's on the phone."

Neon blinked, surprised at the sudden voice. She turned around to see Kurapika, her head bodyguard, behind her with a cellphone in hand. She blinked her green eyes to stare at her bodyguard.

Kurapika, upon seeing no reaction from Neon, handed his white cellphone nearer to her. "Your father, Raito Nostrad, is on the phone waiting to talk to you."

Neon finally got to make sense of whatever Kurapika was pointing out to her. She didn't like to act like this-serious, not childlike, like an _unspoiled brat. _No, she didn't like it at all. Anyway, she took the phone and stubbornly looked out the window to watch the clouds again. "Yes, Daddy?"

* * *

"Y'think it's going to be safe?"

Gon's attention was focused on thinking, and Killua was focused on... well, his triple-layer waffle-cone luxuriously priced chocolate ice cream. Killua didn't even blink upon hearing Gon. Well, maybe his ears were also full off the sweet tastiness of the chocolate sundae.

Wait. Why did that sound like Killua's mind?

Because it was! Yes, he was purposely ignoring Gon. All night for five days they've talked about it, and Killua had made sure he had put into an end the argument, said his side, and won. He said they'll leave Kurapika alone, concentrate on Ging, and help Kurapika whenever he calls needing help. Yes, and with that done over with, he decided he could focus on his triple-layer waffle-cone luxurious chocolate ice cream- _Wait, where'd it go!_

Gon stood in front of him, looking very disappointed and angry. Well, the playful type of angry. On his right hand was Killua's ice cream, dripping off into his hand as it melted. Killua had that bewildered look on his face. "Gon!"

"Were you even listening to me?" Gon asked, a little demanding. "I bet you weren't!"

Killua took Gon's right arm. And shook it. Hard. "We're _you_ listening to _me? _No you _weren't! _I said we'd get this over it and focus on finding your lame excuse of a father, but _no, _you want to mess around with Kurapika!"

Gon pouted that irresistible pout Killua loathed. "Face it, Killua, you want to help Kurapika as well. We're his friends, we all want to help him."

Killua fought hard not to fall for Gon's persuasion again. "Then what about that ojii-san! Not that he's doing _anything _for Kurapika! Not even Hisoka!" Killua blinked at his words. "...not that Hisoka's a friend. But what I mean is, it's only _you, _Gon. Didn't you hear Kurapika? He said he didn't want us to help. So be it! It's his thing anyway."

Gon wasn't ready to just give up on his cause. "We all know what happened the last time he faced the Spiders. It's not good for him."

Killua sighed. "Well, he's determined to do it. Do you know what happened the last time we tried to track Ging? We got broke, we got kicked out, and then we almost lost or Nen! AND NOW WE'RE STILL DOING IT! Why? 'Cause you're a determined freak! You want to find your father! And that was the point! And now for Kurapika... You ask what do we do, Gon? Simple! Leave him alone! Now give me my ice cream back!"

Gon remained silent, but he tightened his grip on the waffle cone. A little more, Killua knew, and the cone would break. And if the cone breaks, he knew the chocolatey goodness of his ice cream would drip from Gon's hand to the floor and all of it, all of its pure heavenly sweetness, would go to waste. With that he realized he had to think fast... or else all heavens would fall down on him and his ice cream.

"Fine, what do I do to prove that I care even though I'm not doing anything?"

Gon was a little shocked at Killua's sudden defensive action, but when he realized what he was doing, he knew he could turn this all on his page, for his win. Since Gon didn't treat the brown sweet as something important, so unlike Killua, he didn't see the special importance of it to his silver-haired friend. He did the opposite of what he did earlier, and loosened his grip that it almost fell out of his hand. Killua's eyes were almost out of its sockets, but he kept it in.

"If I drop this to the floor and you won't care, maybe that'd prove something.."

Killua blinked. "That doesn't have to do with anything!" He paused, thinking of something to back up his statement to thaw away the cold-hearted Gon he saw. Anyway. "In fact, that doesn't prove anything!"

Well, too bad for Killua, his reflexes wasn't as fast or faster than Gon's. 'Cause half a second later, his chocolate delight became a mud puddle on the carpeted floor. Killua's eyes turned glassy with tears as he knelt to the floor to rub his hands on the chocolate pool of sweetness.

There went his triple-layer waffle-cone luxuriously priced chocolate ice cream. All gone.

"GON!"

* * *

"Why do I need to see a doctor? I'm not SICK!" Neon shouted her outrageously childish, baby-shrieking sounding tantrum. She narrowed her eyes angrily, knitting her eyebrows together, and stared at her bodyguards waiting for an answer. She was pretty enraged, and she didn't like what her bodyguards were telling her.

Not that it really made sense in her ears.

They looked at Neon. She was standing on a bed with _pink frilly drapes _and _pink furry stuffed animals _with _pink laced-pillowcases_ covering the _pink cushioned pillows._ Now, Senritsu told her she didn't need all of those… pink stuff, but the problem with Neon is that she can do it if she wanted to. In short, she managed force to squeeze it in their baggage despite everything.

But that wasn't the problem. No, the three bodyguards had just realized they—Bashou, Senritsu, and Kurapika—had wasted fifteen minutes of saliva for this-another tantrum from Neon. Another unbearably noisy tantrum to resound in the airship. They just finished giving her a lengthy explanation that she needed to get to a _psychologist, _because she was the last person—so they suspected—that saw Crystal. Or saw her leave, even. They explained that digging into her memories could be a clue to finding Crystal, which was their actual motive. And then they could go home.

They even bribed her with nonexistent chocolates, dresses, toys, artifacts and body parts, but seeing it ended with nothing, they felt like giving up and just do it without any further ado.

But Bashou wasn't going to give up that easy.

"You're not sick, Neon. You just need to talk to someone to go to your happy place. Then you try to remember Crystal, then we all find her, and we all live happily ever after," he said while rolling his eyes. Neon was irritating him, but what could he do? Neon was his _boss, _after all, and she could haul his ass off the plane with a flick of her finger.

Fortunately for Bashou, she didn't do that. She only glared at him like a demanding five-year-old. "I DON'T BELIEVE THAT! STOP LYING TO ME! YOU WANT TO GET ME INTO THAT WHITE ROOM AND GET ME STUCK INTO THOSE TUBES AGAIN!" She shouted. "THE LAST TIME THEY DID THAT TO ME, I LOST MY ABILITY! AND NOW DADDY WANTS CRYSTAL BACK! SEE! SEE! SEE!" Her knees buckled and she fell into her bed, sobbing. "Stop lying to me…Can't I trust any of you?..." She started to cry.

They all watched her sob, making sure to maintain their distance from the 'boss.' They didn't want to hurt her any more. No, the three bodyguards weren't heartless. So when they saw her cry, they wanted to help her. Make her stop crying. To comfort her. Especially Senritsu, since she heard Neon's hurt inside and out.

But what could they do? Not like they could change Neon's mind.

It would take them a miracle.

Neon's eyes, bloodshot from crying, looked up at them after two minutes of tense silence. She looked at Kurapika and directed a demanding glare. "Kurapika! You said I could trust you! You said you wouldn't lie… you said you'd believe in me… you said, you said…"

The other two bodyguards looked at Kurapika with concern for Neon and Kurapika as he came nearer the bed. He sat on the corner nearest Neon and extended a hand on her shoulder.

..._Is he the miracle that will change Neon's mind?_

He made her look into his blue eyes, and she tried to stop her sobbing by sniffing. She wanted to listen to him. "I didn't lie to you, Neon-sama. _We _didn't lie to you, and we never will. I-_we_-believe and trust in you. I swear, Neon. Now you have to trust and believe in us in return."

"NO THAT'S NOT IT!" Neon continued to insist, pounding her hands on the cushion. She flailed her limbs wildly, wanting to fight back. "NO! NO! That's NOT IT!"

Finally, seeing Neon wouldn't listen, Kurapika stood up. He was mute, he didn't make a sound as he moved farther away from Neon.

"I'm not sick am I?" Neon's whimpers resembled a hurt puppy as Kurapika walked to the door.

"You're not sick, Neon. But I… I'm getting sick of you acting like you're a baby. You're _16, _Neon. You should stand tall and act like on. You're not five. It's irritating. And it's a pity. I feel bad for you. And you don't know, Neon, but everybody is as well."

He shut the door, and she felt him shut the door in her heart as well. She stared dumbly at the door, hoping it'll open with him saying, 'Nah, just kidding.' It didn't, however, and all she could do was watch as the rest of them went out the door as well.

She was left all alone.

* * *

The phone rang, but he didn't want to answer. No, not when he was at the peak of his study, when he was about to get it perfect. _Not now not now not now not now please… _he chanted in his head as he continued to write the formulas. Sweat trickled from his forehead as it creased. He tried desperately to ignore the call… he desperately prayed in his head that the one calling would just give it up.

But no.

_~Hoshigatteita momo wo te ni shittemo sunao ni umaku waraenai no naze darou ~_

The phone continued to buzz in his ear, and he was distracted. He was tempted to press the 'busy' button. When he, however, took a one-eye glance at the Caller ID, he hurriedly took the call.

"H-hey, Kurapika. Sorry, I was kinda in the shower."

_[You were right beside your phone, Leorio.]_

"N-No I wasn't! I was rubbing my head shampooing, singing like there was no tomorrow…"

_[And now you're walking undressed inside your apartment with a lot of shampoo that smells like aftershave on your head, talking to the phone, tempted to go to the window to catch a better signal but can't since, well, you're naked.]_

Leorio finally gave it up. He couldn't win with the story Kurapika was giving him. "Fine, fine, I was right beside my phone…"

_[And you wouldn't pick it up. Why?]_

"Some people aren't smart enough to not need to study, Kurapika," Leorio snorted. "But other than that, why'd you call?"

_[I need a psychologist…]_

"…you need therapy?" Leorio's eyebrow twitched.

Leorio heard Kurapika's voice that strained to not burst with all anger and fury. _[It's not me, idiot. It's Neon.] _

"She needs therapy."

_[Well, something more of hypnosis.]_

"Make up your mind! Do you need a hypnotist or psychologist?" Leorio asked.

_[Either way will work I guess. Just as long as he can help her regain memory of when she was 10. And__ I'm thinking of someone we'd be able to get fast. _Like, now.]

"I have a friend—"

_[Give me the number. I have a pen and paper.]_

"Aren't we at least going to talk like friends? We haven't seen each other in a while."

_[If I had time, Leorio, I would've just walked through your door and saw you wearing strawberry pink shorts while studying medical science instead of talking over the phone.]_

It was over the limit, Leorio knew. He didn't have strawberry pink boxers. Moreover, what was with the random statements rolling off from Kurapika's mouth? He, however, ignored that and finally sighed. "Fine, next time. Lemme get my phone list."

Leorio put the phone down on the table—not forgetting to put it in speaker—and walked away to grab from the top of the fridge his phone list. As he was there, browsing for the name, he heard Kurapika mutter things. He found the name, and as quietly as he could, he tip-toed toward the phone and listened to Kurapika whisper.

_[…'Cause there's no more place to hide.]_

Leorio blinked. Could Kurapika be thinking what he thought Kurapika was thinking? No, it couldn't be good, he realized, and after that, he took the phone back to his ear after returning it to normal mode. "Hey, Kurapika."

_[Yeah?]_

"Yeah, I have this friend of mine. His name…"

xXx

There were suddenly tree rapid knocks on the cottage door the bodyguards had rented for their stay in the little town. Senritsu was the one who answered to the visitor, and she smiled. "Hello."

She took into view the young man—no more than 30, she believed—who stood before her. He was rubbing his head sheepishly, his rimmed glasses almost falling off his nose. She looked into his bright green eyes as he started to talk. "Hi. I'm Eric. I'm the psychologist friend of Leorio. He said his friend Kurapika's friend needed a psycho exam-slash-hypnotism exercise?" He sounded really awkward, but Senritsu ignored all this as she nodded to him.

"Oh, yes. She's this way."

'Eric' went inside the cottage and nodded to the other occupants, namely Kurapika and Bashou, whom they passed by. Senritsu led him inside the room where Neon stayed.

Eric turned around. "You can come in, I suppose. Just keep distance."

"Okay," Senritsu said, and with a wave of her hand, the other two came to join her and Eric into the room. Eric went over to Neon who was sitting on her bed with a paper and pen.

Eric watched as she spun the pen around her fingers. He recognized the action, but he couldn't pick it out as anything. Little did he know that in truth, Neon was still desperately trying to summon back her powers.

Eric held Neon's hand, and she looked up back at him. He smiled at her. "Hey."

Neon blinked. "You're the doctor?"

"Yeah," Eric nodded. "Can we start our little talk now, Miss Neon?"

Neon nodded, a little smile becoming apparent on her face. _This isn't half bad, _she thought. She smiled at the doctor and answered, "Yeah, sure."

Eric smiled, putting down the paper and pen on the other table. He made her sit down straight, before finally he breathed in, as if preparing for an ultimate blow. Neon closed her eyes as he whispered, "Okay, Neon. Now close your eyes, and go to your happy place. And there, you'll meet Crystal."

xXx

_"CRYSTAL!" The pink locks of the young girl jumped up and down with her sudden motion. She dashed to her older sister who was all dressed up in gloomy colors—a gray hooded jacket, black skirt, and white shirt—across the hall. _Hmm, I wonder what's with the suit.

_"Neon, I need a favor," the 14-year-old's serious tone caused Neon to come to a halt. The 10-year-old rarely heard nor saw her sister talk, and the fact that then her sister was talking and it was in a very serious tone, she didn't like it, not a bit. But she kept it all inside of her as she heard the next sentiment of her sister—"Listen, I need to go out and you have to distract Dad."_

_"Didn't Dad ground you?" Neon's voice was very mostly of curiosity; the way she cocked her head to the side was a very apparent sign of this impatient childlike curiosity. But most of all, over all felt emotions, she was still wary of her sister. It was known around the entire Nostrad Mansion that Crystal rarely talked to anyone, and didn't, at all, talk to her younger sister Neon. Other than that, she didn't—and couldn't—seem to trust her older sister Crystal._

_"Dad lifted it…for a while. So I need to go out while it's still lifted. Can you distract him? Can I _trust_ you to distract him?" Crystal's wary eyes met Neon's more hesitating ones, green-to-green. Boring deep into Neon's mind, she almost couldn't resist._

_It's like why bother distracting her father when she can just go off… that is, if the grounding was really lifted._

_"When will you return, nee-san?" Neon's feeble voice was barely heard by Crystal. Neon didn't want to obey her sister, she actually wanted to rebel. And doing what her sister asked, distracting her father, felt pretty wrong in her ears as well._

_"I—I'm not sure when…" Crystal murmured weakly; it was the first thing she said that wasn't an exact lie. She was worried; if her sister doesn't do what she asked her to, nothing would go in plan and she wouldn't be able to get out._

_Neon felt her heart close to her chest, thumping hard. She was sitting on the fence, unable to decide. She didn't want to follow, but she wanted as well. She couldn't pick one._

_"Will you return?" Neon asked, and Crystal did not respond. Neon's thoughts whirred. It wasn't like her father cared much about Crystal—her father almost didn't see Crystal's abilities at all. However, Neon did, and she realized that if she manages to push Crystal out of the mansion, away from her and her father, she would get all absolute attention and she would have no more problems whatsoever. Yes, the ten-year-old made up her mind quick after that and said, "Okay…I'll do it."_

_Crystal smiled a smile that was obviously untrue. She patted Neon's head, ruffling the pink strands. After that, she finally ran off in the opposite direction, the fluttering of her black skirt echoing in the hallway._

And that was the last thing Neon remembered of Crystal, six years ago. Crystal, a sister she traded for greed. A sister she lost… a sister that needed to be found.

A tear slid down her cheek, much to the surprise of the rest of the people watching.

"It was my fault."


	6. Chapter 5: On the Red Carpet

All hail Procrastination! And overupdating! And active-author-ism! And parties! And-And twists! Like these! xD

I hope you don't get confused with Enrico and Maria later on ^^

**OWC: **2,368 words

**DISCLAIMER: **Yoshihiro Togashi owns HxH

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**~On the Red Carpet~**

* * *

She slipped out from the bedroom, the door closing with a silent thud. She closed her eyes, her long lashes accentuating the motion.

"Remind me why I have to do this again," she said with a reluctant sigh.

Kuroro looked at her with an appreciative gaze before he straightened himself up from his leaning position on the wall. "Well, I realized you haven't been in this kind of thing for a while." He nodded, finishing the study of her clothing. "You look nice."

Crystal shifted uncomfortably inside the red dress he had given her, stolen from, yours truly, a high class boutique. To Crystal, it looked ridiculous. It was sleeveless, backless, extremely skin tight (on the upper torso, anyway), with only two thin straps of cloth put together in an X to secure the dress on her neck. There was also a thick obi-sash-style belt running through her thin waist. Good thing there weren't any glitters, or else Crystal would've ripped it in two. She wore a thin felt jacket over her shoulders to lessen the baring feeling of the sleeveless dress, but it was still too thin. Kuroro forbid her to wear anything thicker. Other than that, she was forced to wear boots. With the boots on, she was almost Kuroro's height, maybe half-inch short. She also wore her long raven-black hair down to her waist, and with that she didn't look like Crystal at all-she was a completely different person, just for show. If not for the necklace and the tattoo, Kuroro might have not been able to recognize her as well; because Crystal didn't put herself out that way.

No, Crystal wasn't picky in her clothings, but this was just completely different. It was completely off her style, and she thought she shouldn't be caught alive in that suit.

Well, sucks for her. Because she'll be forced to wear that outfit the _entire _night.

Why? Because Danchou said so. And with that said, she knew there was nothing more she could do.

Kuroro looked at her with a smile. It was actually pretty obvious that Crystal was uncomfortable in the red dress, but Kuroro overlooked that fact like it was nothing at all. He just looked at it thinking that it was very convenient to know Crystal would be able to just put in anything and look decent. She would be a good liaison replacement. Other than that, the dress, he thought, would give her the privilege to easily blend in and stand out at the same time. Convenient.

Ahh, but he wasn't the one wearing the outrageous thing.

"Why didn't you bring Machi instead?" She asked, trying to avert Kuroro's gaze away from her awkwardly feeling outfit. Her tone was also a little complaining-but she didn't do anything else because she knew she was in no place to complain.

Kuroro merely shrugged. "Too unsociable."

"Shizuku?" she continued to ask, but after achieving to get the 'do-you-even-have-to-ask' look, she stopped, knowing trying to argue would be hopeless. She just sighed. "I hope I'm getting something from this. I'm not going to parade around in a five-star-hotel as a trophy-girfriend without getting anything, am I?" she said. "So, What do I have for this?"

Kuroro extended a hand, waiting for her consent for him to escort her, and just grinned as he replied, "A lot."

She rolled her eyes. "Define, 'A lot,' _Danchou,_" she said, forcing the word out of her mouth like rotten spit. No, she didn't like the sound of the word, much less the taste of the word in her tongue. She didn't want to call Kuroro that... it just didn't feel right to her.

Not like she could do anything.

"Believe me, you're going to have much fun tonight, Crystal," Kuroro just assured her. "I took you here for a reason."

Ah, yes. He took her-and only her-for that mission flight that night. He called for no waiting back-ups, no watchmen. No nothing... Only them.

"Stop speaking in riddles, _Danchou._ It's not funny to do it that way. Tell me. Now," she said, sounding a little demanding. "I want to know what I'll do and what I'll get."

"Well, let's just say we're going to take some unneeded lives tonight," he said nonchalantly, like it didn't at all matter. Crystal blinked at his unhuman indifference at the matter of taking lives-she had even thought maybe this indifference was more of a disorder than an incapability to feel. But she couldn't do anything about that either-without this trait, Danchou wouldn't be Danchou. And the Spiders wouldn't be the Spiders. Everything would be different, Kuroro even. Not just Danchou.

"And you're making me do all that dirty work? You're unfair," she said with a stabbing look in her eyes. "Is that everything I get? Murder? Assassination?"

Death was a usual thing to Crystal's eyes. Back in her place - a secluded private property she bought in a different name east of the town Vylkar - no doctors were there for medical purposes like healing. The only doctors there were witch doctors, and that's why Vylkar's famous for the witches that supposedly haunt the area

But no, unlike Kuroro, death is still a "bad" thing to Crystal. It's still painful. It's still a loss. But she knew that being accepted officially as a Spider, that should be erased.

"Well, yeah, that's also a reason why I got you a red dress," he said, pointing the fact out. "You can change after that if it gets stained. Actually, it doesn't even matter if it gets stained."

She narrowed her delicate green eyes. "And I will actually have fun doing this mission because...?"

"...It's your first mission as a Spider?" he said with a goofy grin that tried to fool her. The grin was entirely fake, and Crystal saw it. Kuroro had never grinned genuinely in the entire time she's been an official Spider. She realized he never will... not anymore.

"Nice try. Not working."

Kuroro went a step nearer her, but unlike other girls, she didn't budge an inch. She was used to close contact. "Well, maybe I'll do the job for you, but it's going to be better if you do it yourself, actually. So do you want to do it?"

Crystal looked straight into his onyx eyes. "That depends on who I'm actually _killing,_" she said bluntly, like Kuroro, although the word pulled a string in her heart.

Kuroro leaned closer to her ear and whispered a soft jumble of words that made Crystal smile evilly and her eyes glint with quiet yet demonic mischief.

"Count me in."

* * *

"That ol' guy's gonna have a piece o' me soon!" Bashou said, talking in half-thug half-English. He stomped through the cottage noisily, irritating Senritsu's ears and waking Neon up from her nap. He headed to the porch, where Kurapika sat, reading a red, leather-bound book. He asked him, "D'you know where that Raito guy went?"

Kurapika looked up from his book. "Where is he, Bashou?" he asked in a tone that was forcing itself to sound interested.

"He's in a party! The old man's went to a party downtown, an' he's there, flirtin' with the ladies and enjoyin' his life while here we are, stuck in this random island in the middle o' nowhere-"

"Vylkar, Thirty miles east of YorkShin," Kurapika told him disinterestingly, but Bashou continued his sentence without minding Kurapika's statement.

"-tryin' to find his daughter and protect the other one! What a life! I'm quittin' this job soon enough!" he said with an ugly expression in his face. Kurapika nodded, trying to look like he actually listened, and went back to his book.

Bashou went inside the cottage again after all that ruckus of complaints. Five minutes later, Kurapika went it as well, because the sun was down the sky and twilight crept over, turning the sky into shades between purple to dark blue.

"Another day ends," Senritsu said as she played with her flute. Kurapika nodded, and so did Bashou.

Oh, ho-ho. They didn't know any more than that.

* * *

"May I ask for your invitations?" the guard at the gate looked at the handsomely dressed man and the gorgeous and hot looking woman beside him. He stared at the girl's bodily curves as the man took the envelope out of his pocket. The guard had to peel his eyes off the young lady as he read the invitation, checking all the information to make sure it wasn't fake... because the party was for VIPs only. He read the names of the two invited. "Ahh, Lord and Madame Verano. Please come in," he said politely as he opened the marble door to let the couple in.

The couple was greeted by a long red carpet that made the man smile and the woman twitch a little in discomfort. However her role didn't allow her to twitch in discomfort or anything close to such... so she remained standing tall, but not proudly.

A part of the crowd stared at the lady that had just entered the door. They looked at her criticizingly, with analyzing eyes and bad stares from others. To others though, they thought she looked beautiful, the way her raven-black hair hung almost to her waist, the way she walked and stood up, the way she looked just like an innocent child. Even the way she clung close to her man was adorably cute... that was, because they didn't overhear what they were whispering to each other.

"_Danchou_, damn you. You didn't say there'd be this many people." She clung to his left arm as they breezed through the crowd.

He shook his head in disappointment, most likely upon what she said, and peeled her off of him, only to find her sticking closer to him than ever. "Listen, _Maria__. _I told you to be good, cursing-free, and stand up here like the _noble lady _you are here in the crowd. Don't worry, they won't bite you."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "May I remind you, _Enrico, _that _you _forced me to come here."

"The invitation says exactly that you had to bring a female companion."

"You could've brought someone else."

"Just smile and enjoy the night, will you please do, _Maria?"_

The codenames were getting into her nerves real quick. Also because he was calling her _that _way. Teasingly. And she didn't like it. "Tch. Might I ask where you desire me to, well, _zap_?" She asked.

"Hmmn, walk down the third hallway across the aisle, and get through the third door to the left. That's where the bathroom is, sweetheart," he said, pushing her off. She turned around to put out her tongue at him. He laughed quietly, then remembered something. "Oh, and don't forget to call Rachel!" he said.

She smiled and played her part. "I never forget to call Rachel_._"

"Don't get hurt," he said with a slight tone of concern in his voice.

She smiled at him, even softer than before, and nodded. "Of course, _mi amor."_

Like a shadow, her red figure faded in the crowd.

xXx

"Hey Boss!"

The man with the beard didn't look up from staring at his women dancers. "What is it now?"

"There's a girl looking for you, outside. Said her name was Rachel Frost."

He stroked his beard, thinking. The name Rachel Frost sounded so familiar to him. "Okay, just gimme a second." He turned to the dancing girls-which were, just to mention, all underage-and told them in a seductive-yet-disgusting-for-an-old-man-to-do-whisper, "Let me talk to that Rachel girl for a minute, eh? Go out and meet with the attendants first," he said, and the girls immediately left him. After the door closed he tidied himself up by running his hand through his hair, buttoning up his polo.

The door opened, and he put up the friendliest old-man smile he could do for Rachel.

But the figure who came in wasn't Rachel.. and he knew that.

She tilted her head to the side, smiling at his terrified expression.

"Hi Daddy."

* * *

Maria came out through the hallway again with a smile on her face. Enrico came forward to catch her hand and assist her. They walked in pace and after he was sure she was okay already, he asked her, "So, what did Rachel say?"

"She said, 'Hi Daddy.'" Maria said with a grin now, barely able to hold down on the laugh she was trying to keep. She showed him her wet red hands and wiped it on the dress that barely showed the stain. She let out a drunk-sounding giggle.

"What did Rachel do?" Enrico asked Maria, and Maria now put her face on his shoulder, trying to hide her face that was now full of joy and happiness... in whatever way. Enrico knew Maria had some fun.

"She did what you asked her to do, three times for the job and six times for the fun. Isn't she a generous girl?" Maria said, laughing now. "C'mon, let's go, Enrico. Rachel must be tired."

They went out the back door, their exit accompanied by the background screaming of the people who went in Nostrad's room.


	7. Chapter 6: Survival

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait. One—FF wouldn't load, Two—I didn't have internet, Three—My mom wouldn't let me use her laptop.

Gomen-ne~

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own the song part below, and I don't own HxH either.

**OWC: 3,153**

"Did'ya boys here the noise?"

Killua and Gon were forced to look up from the book they were reading—"A History of the most amazing Hunters"—to face the voice. They saw a big, bulky man with thick muscles. He was wearing a t-shirt with a large showy print saying, **OUTCAST. **To Killua's opinion, he looked like someone from a powerful, we-beat-up-little-boys mafia gang, and so his suspicion made him narrow his eyes at the man.

"But isn't this the library? And the only kind of noise that's allowed here is the noise that's turned on _mute._" Killua said, hoping to intimidate the man. But it obviously didn't work since the man just shrugged it off.

"No, I didn' mean that kinda noise. Ain't that kinda noise, kid. Im'ma sayin', the noise from yesternight, did'ya hear 'bout the wreck? Tch, old boys in the town couldn' make one step fuss 'bout the murder."

Raising an eyebrow, Killua asked, "Murder? Last night?"

"But last night there was an opening launch for the Hunter Artifacts museum!" Gon said, sounding almost like he was whining.

"Yeah, right there, kid. A rich dude was murdered there last night. Uh-huh, poor dude, considerin' the last person he saw was a pretty lady," the old man shook his head and crossed his arms across his chest.

Killua's assassin self perked up with interest. "Lady Killer, eh?"

"Yeah. My sources, close friends, said she said she was _Rachel Frost. _Nice description o' 'er was given i' the paper. Black hair green eyes. She would've made a nice gal, eh?"

Gon leaned his chair backward, toward the man. "But who got..." he gulped, considering the topic wasn't as soft as he thought, "...murdered?"

"Meh, old man. Well, he was rich 'fore, but now he's gone bankrupt. Too bad, too bad, he was this high the mafia ladder"-he extended his arm up over his head-"like that high, almost to the 10 Dons. Meh, rotten luck."

Killua nudged the man's giant leg. "Oi, big dude. We were asking you _who, _not his bankruptcy status. So break it off, man," he said, like the rowdy teenager-to-be he was.

"I fuggo' the name, kid. Bu' I think it sound'd aristocrat, y'know what I mean, right? N… os… no… not…"

Killua's purple eyes glinted in surprise and shock as it widened. "Nostrad… right?"

The big man nodded. "That right. Got it right on the dot, kid. D'you know—" He looked around, but the kids weren't there anymore, the book's sheets flipping madly with the wind the speed of their departure caused.

The book's pages landed to a picture of a very young looking man, and the big man, being uneducated, had a hard time reading the words. But after a few, he managed to read it.

_Ging Freecs._

"You really want to call their attention, don't you?"

She ignored him, and just went on to continue on what she was doing. She slipped a robe over her bare shoulders and went toward the mirror to rake through her shower-wet waist-long hair.

"I didn't want to call their unnecessary attention. I work for you. It's like I had a choice."

Her brushing became rougher, stronger. She was very frustrated. But since the scale's been altered and now, instead of equal, she was under him, she couldn't—and definitely wouldn't—show the frustration and prove it out directly in words.

Oh, how she loathed the feeling of being under his very watchful eyes 24/7.

"I asked you. I gave you the chance to back out. But you didn't and just went on."

Crystal sighed, straining herself to calm down and clear her head of the growing annoyance toward the older man. She turned around to face the older man. She turned around to face him, but with closed eyes as she answered in a cold-and-straining-to-be-calm voice: "He had more worth dead than alive. See how everyone's at him now?"

She opened her eyes, feeling her cheeks suddenly feel hot. She was too old for things like that, she knew—so she passed it all off thinking it was all a mere figment of her imagination. They flashed, quickly passing her mind like she was on Removal—Memories and recollections of a far and forgotten, distant past. But no, she realized that none of it was made up by her ridiculous mind when she felt her cheeks literally flush when he grabbed her chin.

She cursed in her mind, _Damn this man. _

She stared fully, slowly, and cautiously at his figure. He stood in front of her, all 5 foot 10 of him, with his trademark coat loosely hanging on his frame, completely unbuttoned—and no undershirt beneath it, for that matter. To Crystal, it was all just leather, fur, and Kuroro.

And muscles.

"Don't touch me!" she said, forcefully pushing him away. The spontaneous reaction from her made him smile amusedly, and it irked her. "Don't. Touch. Me. No fingers, no hands, arms, legs, no nothing." Her guard was very much up, and her muscles and everything was tensed. Her face was deep tomato red, but the look she saw on his face made hers drain white, whiter than paper. She didn't like that knot-twisting-her-stomach feeling. Her heart beat wildly.

_What do you plan on doing? _But nothing happened. "Right, he murmured, then finally moved back to lie again on the couch, like he had no responsibilities in the world. "Why so cold?"

_Because you taught me to be, _she wanted to answer, but she couldn't—and didn't. She, instead, just looked straight at him, glared daggers, and then finally turned away.

"I'm getting dressed," she said, puffing angrily, and turned her back to him. But she didn't move an inch, for a reason Kuroro knew.

Ahh, he liked that even though she had her own personal strength—and she hated being handled—she still waited for his permission. He knew it was growing in on her… but she had to bare it. Now, she had to pay the consequences. A part of him felt bad doing such to her, but the heartless Kuroro went ahead of that and just smirked at her very pitiful situation.

"Wise decision," he said, with 'that' tone in his voice. 'That' very mocking tone that irritated Crystal… very much. She walked off, determined to be as far as possible from him, her eyebrows knitted together as she clutched the robe tightly near her chest, her heart still pumping frantically.

She started to ponder again, as the very dark thought came back to her mind. Why _does_ she even bother to bear staying with the man?

She shrugged the thought off, knowing she didn't have an answer at all.

"Maybe we should cut off the mission."

"And what? Leave Neon? Just because we won't get paid doesn't mean we'll have to give this mission up."

"What will we get upon finding that sister of hers?"

"I—I don't know."

"That's the point, blondie. Look, we get nothing. Best we can do is leave Neon back in the mansion and make her fend for herself."

"But it's not righteous!"

"Nothing is, Kurapika. It's not like you haven't learned anything in life."

~donna toki no kimi no koto wasureru hazu mo nai datte itsumo sou kimi ga konna ni mo yuuki kureru kara~

"I'll take this," Kurapika murmured silently, moving away from the arguing group of bodyguards who really couldn't decide on what to do with their boss. Who couldn't make a wise and rightful decision out of the choices they had. Who continued to argue.

He walked out of the cottage to the porch before he finally answered the waiting call. "Hello?"

[Kurapika.]

"Killua. Is something the matter?"

[Don't play innocent, blondie. So did you hear?]

"Yeah. We got the paper. And everything."

[You got the Rachel Frost detail?]

"Clear, Kil. You can go back with Gon. I'll be able handle this."

[That's the same words you told us when we asked you about York Shin… Shit, Kurapika, don't leave us in the blue again. Here we are ready to put our lives in the line—]

"That's the point. I don't want your lives risked again, so don't bother. Killua."

[…]

FLIP.

He snapped his phone shut, looking out the view, wishing to take it all in. It was beautiful, with green trees everywhere, with the bright yellow sun shining over it all, the blue sea reflecting the deep opaque-yet-transparent blue of the sky. If anything, Kurapika could've sworn the entire natural world was _shining_ with life.

Completely opposite to the reality thrown right in front of their faces.

He looked out and started to wonder how long they'll be able to hold the sad truth from Neon. Not long, he knew.

...

"SOMEONE NEEDS TO GIVE ME AN EXPLANATION!"

Neon's voice was horrifyingly loud, squeaky, and tantrum-sounding... but it was pretty hoarse, too, like it was just dried up with shouting. Kurapika was forced to drag himself back inside the cottage with heavy legs.

Out of the pan and into the fire.

Neon's eyes were bloodshot with her crying, eyes welled with more impending tears. Her fragile, smooth hands grasped the newspaper so tightly it crumpled. Her eyebrows were knitted together, her eyes showing agitation that rivalled Kurapika's.

"'NEON, NEON, NEON!' WOULD SOMEONE TELL ME SOMETHING!"

She looked around-but no one responded to her. None wanted to. All her bodyguards' heads were hung low, none willing to answer. They didn't want the 'honor' to be the one to break the news to her. There was pin-drop silence, save for the suffocated hics of the agitated girl and the haunting rhythm of the clock ticking.

And that's when the dam broke.

She collapsed to the floor, on her knees. Kurapika made a step forward with the thought of helping her up-in all meanings of it-but Senritsu blocked him with her arm. Kurapika gave her a questioning glance, but she just looked on at Neon.

Neon was covering her face with her hands, the newspaper lying face up on the ground before her. From where he stood, Kurapika could still see the bold, brave letters in which the headline was engraved in the front page of the accursed paper. **MILLIONAIRE-GONE-BANKRUPT FOUND DEAD IN VIP OPENING PARTY OF NEW HUNTER MUSEUM!**

He noticed Neon start to murmur, but it was too weak for Kurapika to hear. Senritsu, However, heard it all, and the sudden change of her expression from shock to grief to sympathy betrayed how what Neon was saying broke her heart.

It was crystal clear to Senritsu's ears.

"Please," Neon had murmured in a weaker voice than anything Senritsu's ever heard. "Someone... explain this to me... This can't be true, right?" She paused, hiccuping, as more tears gush down her flushed face. "I promise... I'll be a good girl... Just tell me... This is a lie, right?" She started to sob, very faintly, but then as quickly as it came, she sighed. "No... it can't be."

Senritsu would've wanted to tell Kurapika what Neon said, knowing Kurapika would know exactly how to comfort her.

Only... Senritsu didn't have the heart to tell them.

...

Kurapika finally broke the silence. He decided the air was becoming too stuffy... for reasons none of them could comprehend and resolve. "Neon..."

"Who did it?"

Everybody was suprised at her sudden-serious-reaction. They were all left to gag on their own spit for several awkward and embarrassing seconds... save for Senritsu, though. They stared wide-eyed, suprised, shocked, at Neon.

"I know this isn't a joke."

She sniffled and wiped the tears off her eyes. Her pink, untied hair made a curtain hiding with its shadows her eyes and expression, so none of the people around her could tell if she was really serious. Not even Senritsu-Neon's heartbeat seemed to have calmed down, like a miracle.

"Sorry if I acted that way... I'll change, I promise."

Kurapika took a nervous gulp. He knew something was wrong with Neon. Again. Neon never said sorry-Neon never made way for other people. Only to herself, unless she gets something back. No, something was really, really wrong.

Senritsu could see the obvious change in Neon's personality. Was she really willing to fix up her personality?

"Please... I just want to know who did that to Daddy..."

Neon hiccupped again, and Bashou's strong will started to melt. He couldn't help but feel bad for the girl! What could he do, anyway? He was human, after all.

He was only human.

"...So can you tell me?" Neon looked up. Her green eyes were still very much bloodshot, but it was calmer than earlier, without the agitation. She was really pleading like a kid-and Kurapika had to bite his cheeks.

He needed to think it over, before he made a bad decision. He wouldn't be able to handle Neon becoming more of a pain in the neck. So he had to say it as careful and sensitively as he can. "Reports said it was Rachel Frost," he said in a soft voice. Neon's eyes immediately shot up to him, and he was surprised. And terrified, inside. But then Neon shook her head.

"That's not possible. That... that just isn't possible, really."

"Why?" Senritsu asked.

Neon stood up, finally, and sat on the couch. They heard the crunch of the old sofa's leather squishing together with her weight.

"Rachel Frost was the name of the last character Crystal played for Theater Arts class."

Crystal sat quietly on a park bench in an abandoned park. There was no one-no kids flying kites, no dogs running around chasing frisbees, no babies wailing for their mummies, no mothers talking about any random issue.

No, there was only her, and isolation.

They were supposed to meet there, but he still hadn't arrived. It wasn't usual of him to be late, but he was, so what could she do? All she could do was wait. And she closed her eyes, melting into a dream of a far forgotten past.

xXx

_The sky was a very excellent shade of blue. White cottony clouds danced under it, creating several shapes and figures. The sun hid behind them, as if finding a cover for the rain that was about to come, as foretold by the black, heavier splotches hovering in the blue heavens. The wind blew lightly and strongly alternatively. _

_She sat there on a wooden outside her little apartment in the small, silent town of Vylkar, separate from reality. The 17-year-old was silent, and she sat there without a trace of emotion in her pretty little face. She just sat there, looking up silently, solemnly, at the sky, watching as the weather changed rapidly, unnoticed by others. _

_The light, bright, white clouds began to settle on top of the more ominous and heavy black ones. The wind that blew strongly against her face was much colder than earlier. She calculated the time of change-5 minutes? _

_Oh, but she didn't make a move to flee. Fleeing? That's all she's ever done in her life. She didn't want to run anymore, to flee-she wanted to stay and fight now, for what she thought was right._

_So she stayed. She ignored the distant rumblings and claps of thunder as she sat there, earphones slipped in. Under her right hand were loose sheets of paper-composition sheets. _

_In her mind, the melody of her slow, sad song echoed right into the chambers of her empty, bleeding heart. Sorrowful, pitiful. She ran out of words, her throat felt dry, her mind numb. _

_From her earphones rang the song with the words she wanted to tell; perfectly crafted, the way she wanted to tell it. But she couldn't. _

Six months gone and I'm still reaching

Even though I know you're not there.

I was playing back a thousand memories baby

Thinking 'bout everything we've been through

Maybe I've been going back too much lately

When time stood still, and I had you.

(If this was a movie, Taylor Swift)

_The rain poured heavily, suddenly, on the town. It pounded heavily on the galvanized iron rooftops of the poor houses. It wasn't fresh, natural, happy rain. It was a very sad, solemn, lonely and cold rain. And she was immediately sick of it. _

_It made her shiver, the cold breeze it brought along with it. By the strength of the first five minutes, she somehow knew that it was more than rain-it was storm. And she could barely imagine the damage it would cause. _

_She knew, however, that it would damage her the most. Every drop cracked her heart a little bit more. Every drop, she could hear his fleeting footsteps, walking away from her. Making the gap between them, mentally, socially, physically. _

_She knew, not emotionally, though. _

_Her composition sheets were wet, the ink she used to put the notes becoming splattered splotches, like tears._

_Smudges of her memories, none good enough to read._

_To be remembered._

_But she knew she wasn't a kid anymore. She had to fight now. She had to fend for herself, she had to be stronger._

_And no one will ever see her cry._

_She raised her face to look up at the dull, sullen gray sky, the drops of cold rain hiding the tears that cascaded silently down her pale cheeks._

_This time she would fight._

xXx

"Day dreaming again?"

She looked up to see him again. He had this careless look sprawled on his handsome face, and it annoyed her. His bangs fell down like orchids from a tree down his face.

His scent, she could smell it again. She was overwhelmed again. But no. She wouldn't hurt herself anymore.

"You're late. And that's odd enough, but I'll ask. Why?"

He didn't answer her, and instead walked down the lane that circled around the park. She followed him. He had his hands deep inside his pockets, as if he was thinking about something big. "You know, there's this one thing that's been bothering me lately."

She looked up at him. Bothering him? No, there was no record of anything happening like that before. So she asked again, "What is it?"

"If you didn't want to bother and don't want yourself to be under any attachment to your father, why bother killing him? If you say he's of no use, why waste your time?" he asked her, trying to intimidate. She just blinked, turning away from him, and soon her curious face started to melt into an indifferent, unemotional one—one that she got from him. "I could've always done it by my own, yet you yourself pushed yourself to do it 'personally.'" He stepped closer. "No lies this time, Crystal. Why?"

"You never learned, have you, Kuroro?" she said, finally turning to face him with cold, almost lifeless, bored eyes. "Life here is always rough. It's the survival of the fittest."


	8. Chapter 7: Cruise

**OWC: **2586

* * *

"Remind me again why we're on the world's slowest cruise ship."

Crystal held her arms crossed over her chest, demanding an explanation from the black-haired man. Fast. Kuroro, however, just looked at her coolly with humour playing in his obsidian eyes, hands in his pockets.

"We heard news from Shalnark about the Chain-Assassin," he answered without a thought, accompanied by a casual shrug as if it wasn't anything big.

Crystal was actually pretty used to his behaviour and him acting like that. So she put the thought of confronting him about it away, and just glared at him like there was no tomorrow while she juggled the two matters her companion had _grandly _offered to her. And in one day!

It was odd of her to put the less important matter first, Kuroro knew, but he soon he just shouldn't mind the thought. It was insignificant. Maybe she just put it in a 'first-come-first-serve' basis.

"Then why didn't we take a blimp or airship? Or a _car, _for heaven's sake. Why a cruise, of all things?"

She started to tap her foot, her inner thoughts almost spilling over, but her impatience only led to his amusement. And his amusement irked her, only causing her to be more irritated toward the man. She could feel the hairs on her back standing, like a wolf's fur bristling before combat.

Her head was spinning with all the negative emotions that swirled around them. He irritated her, in the most indirect manner, to no end. It had been for so many days already.

But somehow, she seemingly couldn't get enough.

"I was getting tired of flying and running around rushing… I decided maybe we can take a break and go slow for a change."

_Keep your decisions to yourself, Lucifer!_ She mentally shouted. She bit her lower lip, trying so hard not to scream the wrong words at that crucial moment.

So her last question—the most unnecessary one, in Kuroro's opinion—came out between clenched teeth, making it sound like an angry snake's hiss: "And finally, _why, _of all things, pick a 5-star suite with _ONE, __**SHARING, **__**KING-SIZED-BED?**_"

Kuroro did not have a definite answer for that—it was for no reason, really. With his persuasive charisma and handsome looks, she knew he could get any (female) attendant aboard the _Exodus _to help him and help him in his every need.

But he didn't ask for an attendant, he didn't ask for a spare bed. He was okay with that one, sharing, king-sized with silk-and-satin sheets bed. But why he was happy with that, he didn't know. So he really had no reason. He entertained the thought that came to his mind about just wanting to play around with her. He smiled at her blankly, innocently.

She got even more pissed. There she went, trying so hard to stiffen herself up thinking that since Kuroro was already 'Danchou,' he'd act serious, mature, and _of his age. _But there he was! Playing around with her… but she didn't like it.

"I AM SO SICK OF YOU DOING THIS TO ME, KURORO!" She shouted, jabbing her finger toward him as she pushed him away, out the door way, so she could walk through. But she continued to shout—halfway to Kuroro, halfway to the rest of the passengers in the 2,000 foot long cruise ship: "SO FREAKING TIRED!"

"Don't slam the—" **SLAM! **"—door."

Kuroro looked at the closed door, starting to regret everything he'd done to get Crystal to _soften up_ in their considerably long journey of 7 days. First day and he'd already blown her fuse. What more for the other days? He didn't like it. Moreover, it wasn't like Crystal to go off like a walking storm.

He fell to the bed. The bandages that ran through his forehead, over his tattoo, was loose, so he pulled it free. His black hair was a mess. His black leather coat was out billowed underneath him—he had not bothered to take it off. His white button-down shirt was halfway open, and he looked real tired.

And lonely.

"What's the matter with her?"

* * *

The room was dark. There were no windows, nowhere notable where light could pass through. She could feel the floor. It was cold. But she couldn't tell what it was. The wall was cold, too. She also felt the cold metal chains that tied her wrists together.

She felt so cold. She was stripped down to her shorts and her camisole, and the blanket they had tossed to her was too thin. It was thinner than paper, and did nothing to help her warm up. She had neither drunk nor eaten for at least 24 hours. She felt sick, and she wanted to throw up, but she couldn't waste whatever food and energy was left in her body.

She had lots and lots of wounds. She remembered hitting her head, she remembered spraining her ankle. She remembered being twisted to angles she couldn't even think she could do. She remembered being push to sharp rocks… she remembered using her hands to stop herself from hitting her face.

And she consciously ran her fingers through her palm, feeling the deep scars.

She tried to distract herself from the pain. She tried to listen. She heard crickets. She could tell it was nighttime. Outside, she heard breathing. Maybe a guard, standing out there waiting for her to respond, to try to run away.

And there was nothing more.

She started to cry, feeling the weakness overcome her. The tears spilled off her pale cheeks; she tried to wipe them off with her hands, but they kept coming out. Her pink hair fell around her face like a protective curtain as she sobbed for her dear life.

Outside, the short, navy-haired guard could hear her cry and sob and wail, but he just scoffed like it didn't matter.

He, however, did not hear her squeaky voice as she tried to stop the words of calling from coming out. But she couldn't make it stay in her head, because it choked her trying to keep them in. So she continued to cry out:

"Kurapika… help... please…"

* * *

If anything, she despised the thought of sleeping in the same room with Kuroro Lucifer. Much less the same bed. It's not that she hasn't before, but it was already different for her. Now she wasn't the 14-year-old kid who needed someone to depend on. Now she was old enough to fend for herself. Now, they were older people who weren't running over the same train tracks. They were just changed people now that time had passed.

Her eyes were angry, shouting a serious threat. They screamed at Kuroro—"_You don't get any near the bed, Mister!" _If she had shouted it for real, her voice would've dripped of venom. Having been together for a while, what she was saying was easy for him to understand. So he instead just quietly took a few blankets from the cabinet and laid it on the floor. He patted down a pillow, and shrugged at her.

They had a soundless dinner, same as their mute, no-words day. They didn't dare. No one wanted to destroy the silence. It was as if they enjoyed it.

But Kuroro couldn't help it, later that night after seeing Crystal shivering under the blankets. He got up on two feet and went over to hug her.

The silence was broken the next day, with him falling off with an unceremonious THUD.

* * *

The sun had risen. Crystal sat in the study. She was alone there, in a room filled with books that smelled like fresh parchment. The fireplace crackled loudly, though there was no need for it. It resembled her Danchou's study, but it was cleaner and much more organized. It also felt homier, cozier.

In her hands were three pieces of paper. She had it in her jacket, and she didn't notice. It still had those ink splotches where the rain had hit it years earlier, but nonetheless, the notes remained intact.

But she didn't need that copy. She knew the song by heart.

"Do you know how to play the piano, miss?"

Her train of thought broken, Crystal turned her emerald-green eyes to a little boy. He was maybe 6-years-old. He wore a green t-shirt and khaki cargo pants, his dirty blonde hair falling to shoulder-length. He had innocent green eyes like hers.

"Yes, I do," she answered him, but why she did not understand—it just felt like she was compelled to do so.

"Can you play me a song?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "What song?"

He raised his shoulders. "I don't know… any song. Is that sheet music in your hand? Can you play it for me?" He blinked his eyelids slowly, trying to make himself look cute and adorable... and irresistible.

"I don't know—"

As if he hadn't heard her unwillingness, he continued to plead, his hands behind his back. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeease?"

She sighed—again, that _heart_ feeling that made her want to do it. She stood up from her red bean bag to proceed to take a seat on the piano bench. She lifted the cover to expose the keys. They almost smiled at her, the ivory and ebony keys.

Her nervousness and edginess was explainable—It had been a couple of years since she last played a piano. Or any piano piece. She wasn't sure if she could still play well, or if she could, even.

_Like riding a bicycle, you never forget, _he had told her.

The boy, meanwhile, just stared at her, his head cocked to the side, wondering what she was gazing at the piano for.

They just waited on each other, waited so long that Crystal could see herself flashing back on everything Kuroro did and said all her life.

She knew she'd waited far too long… and so did he.

But who was he?

"Miss?"

The little boy had approached her, and was standing behind her. She was a little surprised, but then she smiled a little sheepishly at the little boy who was waiting for her to play the song.

"Oh.. I'm sorry. I was a little distracted."

The boy's grin caught her off guard. "It's okay!"

Crystal felt her heart turn warm. She didn't know what to say to the boy anymore. She felt dumb… she felt speechless. The boy was just so innocent for her. She felt like she wanted to go down and hug that boy.

But she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

So instead she flexed her fingers and started to play… and the entire study was filled by the sorrowfully longing tune. Her mind started to flood with so many thoughts, and she felt something stick to her throat and suffocate her. She felt dizzy, and her eyes started to well subconsciously with uncontrollable, saltwater tears.

And as the words flew out of her mouth, she had a hard time restraining them to minute murmurs and nothing more than that—she had a hard time preventing herself from screaming.

Why, she did not know.

_She sits silently on the windowpane  
Humming the tune you taught her.  
Wishing the crashing down of pain  
Could just stay on hold til later._

_But the tears that flow down her cheeks  
Show that she yearns for you and that your presence she seeks  
She's losing hope but she won't give up  
Cause her heart won't let her to._

_Cause you were her everything  
You were her world.  
Yet you watched her fall._

_That night she lay on her bed  
And slept with you in her head  
But she couldn't wipe the tears off her eyes  
Knowing she failed to thaw your heart of ice._

_You didn't seem to notice  
And you didn't seem to care.  
She just seemed to have missed  
Someone who was unfair._

_You were her everything  
You were her world  
Yet you turned her down._

_No, no. Good thing she didn't;  
She was ready to give it all up.  
The girl named after a gem  
Ready to put her life in the line  
But you seemed to care more about them._

_You can't feel her pain  
and you don't hear her screams  
and you just brought the rain  
and ripped of the seams  
of the dreams  
And the life  
she had tried so hard  
to put back together._

_You ripped it off._

_So I tell her to listen.  
And patch up that old wound, Crystal.  
Get up on your feet and stand up tall.  
It will never hurt no matter how hard you fall.  
'Cause you'll stop the bleeding and the scars may stay  
But they'll teach you to come up and stand  
And fight, and fight, and fight._

_Then you'll forget._

_You were her everything  
And you were her world.  
But just remember that..  
That's over now._

_You didn't hold on..._

Crystal lifted her fingers off the keys, and slowly wiped the tears that had managed to escape from her eyes. Even with the lyrics barely heard by the boy, the tune betrayed its sad soul. The little boy beside her started to clap his hands cheerfully despite the mood set by the music. She looked at him with a grateful smile.

No one has ever clapped for her that cheerfully in her life. Not even after she played the piano. Not even _him._

Only that little kid.

With that, the little kid turned and gave her a rose. Where he got it, she did not know, but what mattered is he tried his best to get her that. (Or maybe it was even for someone else.) By that time she was dumbstruck.

"Thank you, miss!" he said. "You see, I'm a little deaf, but I realized the music makes me feel better. It eases the pain! Thanks a lot!"

He then bowed like a gentleman before dashing out of the study, into the waiting arms of his mother beloved.

Crystal smiled wistfully, remembering her own mother. She had little memory of her. The only memories that came were the deep blue of her skirt, her tanned skin, and the ruffle of her curly hair. Crystal considered her mother to be nothing but a mere illusion—a dream with no proof of ever having existed.

She went on the close and fix up the piano. She wiped the keys gently before putting on the cover. It was force of habit—her _tutor _had told her that all of that was vital to the care of the piano. But that didn't matter, what he said. She just did as her mind told her. But no, she wasn't even thinking anymore—she was merely doing. Doing what she had to do.

Like she has always done, her entire life.

Then she sat back on the red bean bag, staring at the flames that played in the fireplace. She looked back down at the old piece of paper in her hands. She felt the tears coming.

Her eyes shadowed by her bangs, she threw the paper into the fire, watching as it turned into black embers.

She knew it wouldn't matter anymore.

Leaning on the doorway, the raven black-haired man just stared at her with sad and lonely eyes. He wondered how far they had travelled, after merely two days. How far away from the land, how far away from what they wanted to run away from.

How distant they were to each other.


	9. Chapter 8: In The Shadows

**A/N: **Sorry for the long break. I had a looong writer's block and I didn't know what to do.

So filler for the meantime, as I think on what to do with them. XD

**OWC: 2073 words**

* * *

She breathed in the sea air, which breezed through the ship as the sun started to rise that very next day. She leaned over by the bars, staring at the blue sea and the blue sky, and the sun which seemed to be peering, checking if it was time to come up already. Her green eyes scoured the horizon for something that might catch her attention and entertain her awhile, but she did not see anything. She sighed in disappointment.

She walked to the farther part of the Emerald. The Emerald was a huge, two-thusand-foot long cruise ship, and it could carry quite a large number of passengers. It was new and it was one of the 5-star ships. The ship had a lot of excessive amenities, like a casino, a spa, restaurants, a library, a music theatre (artists come to sing, even), and of course, an almost Olympic-sized pool.

And that was where she was headed.

It was only 6 in the morning, and that meant there were only a few people awake and bustling abound; especially in that area, which was only open for the cruisers, not the staff. So the pool was empty of people, just the way she wanted it.

She passed by the towel rack to grab one, knowing she'd need it. She draped it over her jacket. She walked round the pool, undecided. Almost hesitantly, she removed the ribbon she used to hold her waist-long hair. Her black hair blew in the wind. Her eyes took one final scan of the environment once more before she made up her mind.

She took off the long, loose, wavy sundress she had worn. She stripped to her camisole and shorts. She dropped the towel and her jacket on a chair before she removed her slippers too. She walked toward the pool, slowly dropping her feet to the water.

The water was cold. She figured the night breeze might have cooled it. She was used to being in the cold—metaphorically and literally—, but it was still a little too cold for her comfort. She made circles in the water using her feet before she finally dipped her entire body in, slowly.

The part of the pool she had fallen into was probably around 10 feet deep. No light system had yet been turned on—it was still too early for people to swim anyway—so it was pitch-black dark in that space she swam in. She felt the water spin between the strands of her hair, and suddenly she felt cold and wet, and weak. She decided a little moving around wouldn't hurt; probably make her feel a little more confident. She swam in circles, random strokes as she graced her way through the water. She wasn't really intent on doing anything epic. She just wanted to relax, like what everybody else in that cruise was doing.

She decided she'd do what she usually did when she was bored and she had a pool to swim in. She went to the surface to take air and swam down, to the bottom of the pool. She opened her eyes, and instantly they hurt with the chlorine in the water hitting them. She closed them tight, ignoring the pain. Instead she fingered her way so that she found the flat surface of the tiles at the bottom. She squatted down as she would on the surface, feeling the water try to push her up. Then, she turned her head up and looked to the top of the pool. Chlorine stung her eyes, but she persisted that time. Her surroundings were still pitch dark, but she saw the top stained with a little light-blue. She closed her eyes again and felt her mind whirr. Her oxygen was running low, and with a slow, long breath, she released it out of her lungs, to the water.

That numbing pain in her brain, she admitted, was like being on drugs, bringing her to a place of momentary peace and ecstasy. Moreover, it took her mind off of things. She would go and see random memories pop up. That time, it was of Kuroro.

She remembered the day they met and he gave her cotton candy, and she remembered the afternoon trainings at the park by her house. She remembered how he had gripped her hands so that she wouldn't flinch or bounce or move her head when the tattoo gun pierced her neck's tender, virgin skin. She remembered how he had told her about her being a secret from the hard, daunting life of the Spider she had help think of, and she remembered how she had been turned down.

She remembered how he had left her.

Somehow, salty water started to drip out of her eyes, but she couldn't pinpoint if it was because she started remembering that gray, rainy sky, or because the chlorine started to really burn them. She decided she'd have enough of her self-induced 'drug.' She went up 10 feet to the surface and breathed a long breath, bringing relief to her lungs.

She opened her eyes, and saw that the sun had, indeed, risen to a pretty morning-time level. It was already six forty five. She couldn't believe she'd spent that long swimming around without direction, intent, or will.

She climbed up the ladder and went out of the pool, spinning the towel around her wet body. She wanted to shiver, she wanted to cry. She did not want to ask herself why and she did not want to know, but somewhere inside, her brain already knew that answer.

_The irony, _her conscience whispered. _How long __**have **__you been walking around this world without direction, intent, or will?

* * *

_

It was tiring.

More than tiring, it was absurdly dull. Looking out through the stained-glass window of their suite's bathroom was Kuroro Lucifer. He had stayed there, staring into the empty blue space outside, for quite a while already. He had just come in to wash his face and tidy his hair—not in the vain sense of that—to prepare himself for the breakfast buffet, but the view, which was actually pretty empty, just seemed to attract him.

So he lingered.

The breakfast buffet, which they held either at the main deck of the ship or the dining hall, ended at 10:00am. He had little to worry about, because it was still pretty early in the morning—7:07am. So when he thought he wanted to stare out from the very colourful bathroom window, he did.

No more 'mind over matter' over that.

Suddenly, from the bedroom, he heard a familiar soft buzz coming from vibration. He figured it came from the cellular phone that sat on the make-shift mattress made up of linens and random comforters he had pulled out of the closet.

He blinked, peeling his eyes away from the window. He turned to the faucet and realized he had left the water flowing. He reached out a firm hand to spin the knob, turning the running water off.

He shook his head, effortlessly shrugging away the water droplets which remained on his hair. He walked out of the bathroom, with what water remaining in his hair dripped onto his black shirt. He crossed the room barefoot to pick up his phone.

_**1 new message  
Shalnark  
07:10:35**_

He clicked the middle button, the one that had the 'View' function. It took a few seconds for it to load, but when the words flew to the phone's LED screen, he realized maybe that few seconds of wait was worth it. Kuroro couldn't help but let a fleeting smile cross his usually stoic face.

_**We got him, Danchou.

* * *

**_

_Cling, cling, cling…_

She wasn't any better than she was three days ago. In fact, she felt worse than how she did before. Parched and hungry, she felt like she'd been travelling the dry yet cold desert night for days.

Her eyes have been staring into the empty space of the dark for so long that her eyes had actually adjusted to it. She could see from the distance, maybe three or four meters away from where she was chained to on the wall, were the silver bells They had hung on the ceiling almost silently tinkled.

She lost count of the days she had stayed in that little black room. No window to look out through, no unlocked door to walk out through. She was always alone, talking back to the voices in her head except when They came. But the only time They came was after maybe twelve hours each, she estimated, to give her water and a slice of bread.

**You look great today, beautiful,** that sweet voice whispered in her head. **Have you seen the sun? It was magnificent. The flowers bloomed already, but it's only one color so far.** She closed her eyes to block it off, but she couldn't. **Do you know what, yesterday, it rained. It rained really hard, but the strong blossoms survived. There's three pink ones so far, and there's still four buds there left to grow. You loved them, you know. The tulips by your backyard.**

The voice became weaker**. But do you know, the house is still messy. No one has been there for days. Cockroaches sleep on your bed. Do you know that rats already crawl on the floor, eating what's left of the pastries? And now you're here, half-dead and still dying. What do we do, tsk tsk tsk…**

"Oh just be quiet," she murmured silently to herself and to that voice in her head.

_Cling, cling, cling…_

She knew that the chains she had been hung on before were replaced. They were not metal or steel chains any more, instead they were invisible yet strong little strands that she could not rip off. She did not know what they were made of, but she feared it.

One of Them went into the room before. She had dropped a steel tray in front her and then removed the lock of the chains. But she continued to hold her hand up. She, who was dizzy and tired, didn't really take notice, but she knew she heard the sharp sound of thread being tied up. She just couldn't figure out how it could be so strong. **Reinforced nylon, perhaps? **Her mind offered.

But she was too tired to think of it, and her brain ached just at the very thought. So, trying to ease the pain, she tried to sleep, tried to be eaten by the darkness.

_Cling, cling, cling…_

She'd been having nightmares. She'd close her eyes and see in the dark depths eyes looking back at her, usually deep blood red, and they scared her really bad, she thought she might as well have gone insane. And those nightmares were always accompanied by the voices in her head, talking to her like another person.

But it was always a very painful, ear-splitting shriek that woke her up from those nightmares.

She remembered how that same voice was also the one who woke her up to nightmares before. More than wake her up, it was also that same voice who comforted her when she cried after waking up. The person with that same voice usually did whatever she asked for, and then more. Always, she found comfort and safety in that voice, but at that moment, all she found was fear.

Somehow, the silence, which once creeped her out to no end, became comforting for her troubled self. A few hours ago, she had heard loud, painful shrieks from the outside. She let a tear fall down her thin cheek, trying to ignore the questions in her head shouting, **Do you know who it is? Do you want to know who it is?**

She knew who that person was. The not-so-deep, boyish voice was familiar. She'd heard that voice so many times in the recent past. It was the one who coaxed her out of shopping stores, out of the mall. It was the one who put her to sleep. It was the one who taught her songs, how to nimbly touch the piano back at the palace, which she quit on. It was her constant companion, who didn't actually turn his back at her and roll his eyes after she went away.

The only friend she'd found in a bodyguard her father had picked for her.

Kurapika Kuruta.


End file.
